Missing
by Neamh1
Summary: Buffy's life is changing as she moves home and starts her new job. On her interview she meets the stunningly attractive actor Liam O'Conner and her heart beats for a furture in his arms.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Missing

Author: Neamh1

Disclaimer: Note mine

AN: Thanks to everyone who stuck with me through Torn, especially Michebabyblue who has asked about this story so here it is, i hope you all enjoy it! Oh yeah and feedback pretty please?

"Buffy, honey? You have some mail!" shouted Joyce Giles to her daughter; walking back into the kitchen she placed the mail on the counter.  
Soon Joyce could here the sound of her daugther dragging herself out of bed and stomping down the stairs. Buffy had finished university two months ago and had been applying for jobs ever since but with no luck. It wasn't that she hadn't had plenty of job offers; she'd been on so many interviews she had to keep a file with all the job specs and reasons why she had turned them down, just so that she didn't apply more than once for the same job. There just wasn't anything that really appealed to her after the interview. Every morning she got up when her mother shouted to let her know the mail had arrived. She would come downstairs go through the letters and then arrange interviews, this morning was no different. Buffy came in the kitchen wearing her yummy sushi pyjamas and sat down at the island in the kitchen; her mom placed a cup of steaming hot coffee in front of her.  
The weather outside had been unbearable the last few days; they were having a heat wave which made sleeping as uncomfortable as being awake. Buffy's mom always insisted that a hot drink on hot days cooled the body down, Buffy couldn't see how but she chose to humour her mother anyway.  
"Morning dear, sleep well?" Joyce asked her daughter as she watched for the millionth time as Buffy opened letter after letter, Joyce couldn't understand why Buffy had turned down most of the jobs she'd already been offered. Buffy mumbled her reply as she continued to sort through the letters.  
"Good morning!" Said Rupert, with a cheery smile on his face as he came into the kitchen and gave Joyce a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting down at the table. Joyce placed a mug of tea in front of him; Rupert smiled his thanks and unfolded the newspaper as he sipped from his mug.  
Joyce and Rupert had been married for three years now and Buffy and Rupert's relationship had grown into that of a loving father and daughter. Rupert had been the librarian at Buffy's high school which was how he came to meet both Buffy and Joyce. He had met Joyce at parents evening and the two had immediately hit it off. At first Buffy didn't like the idea and made things very difficult for the both of them, that was until she realised how much they really did care for one another.  
"Anything promising in your mail today Buffy?" asked Rupert.  
"Actually, I think there might be." Said Buffy with a smile on her face as her mother came up behind her to see what Buffy was clutching in her hand.  
"Ooh, Mounts Film Studio's, that sounds exciting!" said Joyce.  
"Yeah, it says that they are looking for a full time assistant to work on the set of a new TV programme that they will be launching later on this year, and they'd like me to call to set a date for an interview. I can't even remember sending out a resume to them… I'm going to go and call them and see if I can get an interview this week!" Buffy jumped up from her chair and went into the living room to make the call.

"Where is the studio located Joyce, it doesn't sound like they'd have a filming studio in Sunnydale." Rupert said to his wife.  
"No it's not." She replied with a sad tone to her voice. "It's in L.A. that's a two hour drive from here… well I guess it could be worse, she could have gotten a job in another country." She said as she sat down to sulk at the table and nurse her cup of coffee.  
"Now Joyce," said Rupert as he tried to comfort his wife. "We both knew that this day would come, we can't have her living at home for the rest of our lives, it's not fair on her. She needs to go out and make a life for herself. Experience new things and she can't very well do that in Sunnydale, she's outgrown this town and it's time for her to move on. Try to be happy for her dear, she won't be far away and that's if she is even chosen for the position. Let's just wait and see what happens."

Buffy entered the kitchen with a huge smile on her face, "I have an interview this Friday! Mr Wyndam-Pryce says that my resume looked very promising and he's looking forward to meeting me. I have to wait until Friday though because he has to send me a security pass by courier so that I can get access to the premises…what's wrong?" she asked when she saw the look on her mother's face.  
Buffy knew that this would happen, she could tell what that look meant, it meant – I'm going to loose my only child.  
"Mom, your not getting upset about this already are you?" she asked as she went and sat down next to her mom taking her hand. "I haven't even been for the interview yet and you knew that I wouldn't take a job in Sunnydale unless I absolutely had to. I want to get out of this town; you knew this even before I finished university. L.A. isn't far away, and anyway, you can visit whenever you want, I promise I won't be a stranger when I move." Finished Buffy as her mom gave her a quick hug and a renewed smile and went about cooking them all some breakfast.

That week went unbelievably slow for Buffy, she received the pass on Wednesday morning and got herself a hotel room booked for the Friday night so that she didn't have to drive straight home. Her interview was at 3:00pm and Buffy had been sent a small list of directions to help her find her way from the main gates to Mr Wyndam-Pryce's office. On Thursday Buffy went out and brought herself a new trouser suit in ivory and a new pair of strappy Gucci shoes for the interview. After her shopping trip she met her friend Willow and they went to lunch together and then went to catch a movie. Buffy loved spending time with Willow and if she moved she would really miss her, but Willow had Tara and they would write and phone every other day to keep in touch.  
At the end of the night Buffy dropped Willow off at the apartment which she shared with Tara.  
Willow and Tara had met in their first year of college; they had both joined the same extra curricular group and had become really good friends. The friendship had grown and feelings between the two had developed. They had been romantically involved for about six weeks when Willow had finally plucked up the courage to tell Buffy and Xander. Buffy, Xander and Willow had been friends since high school and the three were inseparable. Both of them were obviously shocked at the change but were happy to accept Tara because she meant so much to Willow.

"Good luck tomorrow. And don't forget to call and let me know how it went." She said before getting out of the car and heading to the door where Tara was waiting for her.  
"Kay, bye Will, bye Tara." Shouted Buffy as she reversed from the driveway and headed back home.  
She pulled into the driveway of her house and parked up her car, then headed into the house to find that her mom and Rupert had gone out for the night and wouldn't be home until late. Buffy decided to go upstairs and take a long hot bath to try and relax herself for the meeting tomorrow, she really wanted to make a good impression. She knew she would love working in the film industry, when she had been at college she had taken a class in theatre and had spent a lot of her spare time performing in productions at the Regal Theatre just outside of town. She had also been sent to Boston for two weeks on a course and had performed at a theatre there too. Buffy had mainly done it for fun, she knew that she would never get a career in the theatre; it was like saying that you were going to be a pop-star when you grew up. Working on a filming set, even as an assistant was as close to that type of career as she was going to get and she was extremely excited about it.

10:00am and Buffy was packed and ready to go, she had decided it would be best to get there a little early so that she could shower and change before going for her interview. She was planning on getting there at about 1:00pm; she could grab some lunch and then head over to the studio for the interview, and hopefully not bring up her lunch through nervousness. Her mom came to say good bye at the car, Rupert was already at work and so he had bid her farewell early in the morning, telling her that he wanted to hear from her as soon as she got out of the meeting to let them know how everything went.

"Now Buffy, you'll call me when you arrive at the hotel to let me know you got there safe? The roads can be very dangerous in LA, especially with all the traffic they have." Said Joyce as Buffy got in behind the wheel of her sky blue Honda Civic.  
The car had been a gift from her parents for her 21st birthday, she had only had it for just under a year now and the car had been a life saver.  
"I'll call you straight away, I promise. Speak to you soon." Buffy replied as her mother shut the car door and walked back to the front porch to wave her off. She backed out of the driveway and waved goodbye to her mom as she drove off down the road towards the highway.

The drive was extremely boring and when Buffy arrived at the hotel to check in all she wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep for a week. She had chosen to stay in the Marriott Hotel in downtown L.A. It was a lovely hotel and she wanted to make sure she was staying somewhere nice in case Mr Wyndam-Pryce asked for her number to call her later on that night for any reason.  
She was given the keys to her room and told what floor she was on, then; grabbing her small suitcase she took the elevator up to her room. She had been put on the seventh floor because she had requested a view from her room. She liked the view of Los Angeles in the night when all the lights were on; it was like the stars had been brought down from the heavens for her to see up close.  
When she entered the room she was pleasantly surprised. It was decorated in dark Blue and cream; there was a large king-size four poster bed in the centre of the room and a dressing table with a matching seat in the corner of the room by the window. The TV was opposite the bed and on either side of the TV were large mirror covered wardrobes. On the side of the bed near the door was an old fashioned lie down navy and gold sofa and next to that was the door for the bathroom. The wall paper was cream and gold and the carpet was a think fluffy royal Blue. Placing her bags on the bed Buffy went to have a look at the bathroom. It was again decorated with elegance in cream and gold, the walls were tiled from top to bottom with tasteful pictures of half nude women surrounded with flowers, which reminded Buffy of Eve and the Garden of Eden. The shower cubical was large enough for two people and the bath could be used as a swimming pool, it was huge! There was a large mirror above the sink and a towel rack with freshly cleaned towels hanging ready for use.  
After looking around the suite and unpacking her things she decided that it was nearly time to take a shower and get ready for her interview, but before doing that she called her mom to let her know that she had arrived safely.  
After hanging up with her mom she called for room service and had a salad sandwich delivered to her room, she stocked up on food then headed for the shower.  
Getting out of the shower she went to the bathroom mirror and put on her deodorant and some vanilla perfume. She then went about drying her hair and pulling it back from her face with an emerald butterfly clip which matched the colour of her eyes. The ivory suit was made from satin and she wore an emerald green v-neck top under the suit to match her clip. Looking at her self in the mirror and checking her appearance she fiddled with the suit until she was satisfied and then mentally prepared her self to be as charming as hell. She was going to get this job and knock the socks off Mr. Wyndam-Pryce. "Here goes" she said to herself as she took one last look in the mirror and left her room.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Missing Part 2

Author: Neamh1

Disclaimer: Not mine

AN: Thanks for the review, please keep them coming and enjoy the next chapter.

"Nice to meet you Miss Summers, please take a seat." Said Wesley as Buffy shook his hand with a firm grip and took the seat across from his. Mr Wyndam-Pryce looked exactly the way Buffy had pictured him, he was wearing a charcoal black business suit with a silver tie. He wore thin framed glasses and a firm look on his face. To be honest, he reminded Buffy of a younger version of Rupert when she first met him in the library at her old school. The only difference being that Wesley seemed a little more updated with fashion than Rupert who seemed to love his tweed suits.  
"I was happy to hear from you, I'm glad that you could make the interview. I have to say that your resume was very promising; the only aspect that goes against you is that you have no experience in a work place, but everyone has to start somewhere. Now, I'd like to ask you some questions and I'd like clear precise answers please. Then I'd like to take you on a short tour of the studio and we'll come back to my office to discuss your views and whether you would be right for the position." Said Wesley as he got some files out of his drawer and began looking through them.  
"So, I'll actually find out today if I have the position or not?" Buffy asked unsurely.  
"Yes, I don't like to mess around, and with the shooting already started we need someone urgently, in my books that means yesterday. So let's get started…" he said.  
Buffy was scared out of her wits; Wesley seemed so stern and got straight to the point where as Rupert seemed to go on for ages until he reached his. She took back the thought about Wesley reminding her of Rupert, she didn't have time to dwell on it though as Wesley started asking her questions and writing down notes in a file on his desk.  
As they went through question after question she started to relax and Wesley seemed to warm to her, they even shared a few jokes about his past experiences in the filming industry.  
When they were finished Wesley was very pleased with Buffy's answers. He got up to show her around, first he showed her all the administration offices that she would hardly ever have to go into, which were all in the same building as Wesley's office. They then headed down stairs and went out side from building to building as Wesley pointed out places where she might be likely to spend most of her time if she took the position. He showed her the different sets for each programme they were producing, he also showed her the trailers for some of the actors, explaining that the first rate actors had rooms inside the studio where they sometimes spent the night when the shooting schedule was hectic. The last place that they visited was the studio where they were shooting scenes for the new evening slot programme. Wesley told Buffy to be quiet as they entered and watched the scene that was being filmed. The scene was being played by two men, one man was tall, with a shaved head and was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a red jacket and the other …well Buffy had plenty of words to describe him. Tall, dark, handsome, toned, muscular… she could go on forever. He was what girls would dream about, the ideal man in every sense of the word. He was wearing the yummiest tight black leather trousers that hugged his lean legs and Buffy could only imagine the justice they did for his ass. He had a black silk shirt on with the top few buttons open revealing a small patch of tanned flawless flesh that made Buffy lick her lips in desire; she wanted to taste him so badly. She continued to stare at him as he talked on set with his co-star, she lost herself in those deep brown pools of eyes, she kept sinking deeper and didn't even notice when someone yelled 'cut' and Wesley shouted Liam and Gunn over to meet with Buffy.

"Liam, Gunn this is Buffy, I have been showing her around the studios. Buffy might possible be the new assistant for your set." Wesley said as he introduced them to her.  
Buffy was still lost in Liam's eyes and he didn't seem to notice as he stared straight back into her eyes.  
She was the cutest thing he had ever seen, her long golden hair was swept back from her face with a clip and her emerald top seemed to make her eyes sparkle. Buffy was pulled out of her revere by Gunn taking her hand and shaking it. Buffy looked at Gunn seeing that he had a huge grin on his face; she blushed slightly and looked back to Liam who extended his hand to her. Buffy reached out and took his hand in hers and as soon as they touched she felt a wave of electricity shoot up her arm. She couldn't help but notice how large his hands were and her hand fit perfectly inside his. She had to suppress a moan of disappointment when he pulled his hand away from hers and she heard Wesley saying to her that they had to get going. Saying goodbye to Liam and Gunn Buffy followed Wesley, as she turned to close the door behind her she noticed that Liam was still watching her, she waved to him and when he waved back she closed the door. She followed Wesley back to his office and she again took a seat and waited for Wesley to speak.

"Well Buffy, as I said before I am very pleased with your resume and after meeting you I am equally impressed , I believe that you would be a great asset to this company and that is why I am offering you the position if you want it." Wesley watched as Buffy's face lit up with excitement and she thanked him profusely.  
"You won't regret it Mr Wyndam-Pryce, I promise." Buffy said standing up and shaking his hand. He smiled and gestured for her to sit back down.  
"Now, the situation as it stands is that we need you to start work on Monday, will that be a problem at all?" Wesley asked and Buffy shook her head in response, there was no way that she was going to turn this job down for the sake of a couple of hours travelling every morning and evening.  
"You don't need to worry about your accommodation," he said relieving her brief worry, "I have had my assistant collect some accommodation suggestions for you," he reached into his drawer and pulled out a file for Buffy, passing it to her across the table. "Take those back home with you and give us a call tomorrow to let us know which one you have chosen, the number is in the file for you. You'll find pictures of each room in each house taken recently; also the cost of renting is included next to the photos of the houses, you'll find them all very reasonable. All the properties are owned by the company for situations such as this, they are all fully furnished and are very modern, however if you wish to change the furniture please let us know and we will remove the old furniture for you and put it into storage. You are welcome to stay in the chosen property indefinitely if you chose to. I might suggest though that you move your things over the weekend, we will be extremely busy on Monday and it wouldn't surprise me if you're here until 8:00pm, Terry can be a slave driver sometimes. If you have any problems give me a call, the number is inside the file, and I look forward to seeing you first thing 7:00am Monday morning. It was nice to meet you Buffy and I hope you enjoy working here." Said Wesley as he stood up and shook Buffy's hand one last time before leading her to the door and seeing her out.  
Buffy stood in the hallway for a few seconds trying to calm herself down, everything had happened so fast. Yesterday she had been living at home with her mom and Rupert and with no job, now she had a choice of houses to live in, a new job and she had met the man of her dreams. She slowly made her way back down out of the building and to the parking lot, climbing in to her car she tried to suppress the scream of excitement that had been building in the back of her throat since Wesley told her that the position was hers. She sped her way back to her hotel, nearly gaining a ticket on the way. When she arrived there she rushed upstairs to use the phone to call her mom and Willow to tell them the good news.

"Hi mom it's me. I got the job!" Buffy said before giving her mom a chance to say anything.  
"On Honey that's great news; hold on a second, Willow and Rupert are here, I'll put you on speaker phone." Said Joyce as she pressed the button and replaced the handset.  
"Hi everyone." Said Buffy and she was greeted by a chorus of 'hi's' and 'congratulations'. "Not only did I get the job but they want me to start on Monday." She said, she was so excited as she got out the file of properties that Wesley had given her and started to riffle through them.  
"Buffy that means you're going to have a long way to drive every day to get to work and back until you can find a place to stay in L.A." said Willow with a slightly concerned tone to her voice.  
Buffy explained to them all about the properties that they were offering her. She told them that she would be back tomorrow morning to pack her things and then would move in on Sunday. She arranged to go out with Willow and Tara when she arrived home for lunch and a small shopping spree to gather some new clothes that would be suitable to work in. Then she would be going out for dinner to a restaurant with her mom and Rupert, Willow and Tara and Xander and Anya, Xanders girlfriend. It would be her farewell dinner until she could next return home for the weekend. After saying goodbye Buffy hung up the phone and continued to run herself a bath whilst she rifled through the property papers. They were all lovely, nothing fancy and not too expensive but really nice. The types of houses you would decide to buy for your first time if you were planning to move to L.A. After looking through all of them Buffy had her heart set on a three bedroomed detached house which was a thirty minute drive away from the studios, it was out in the quieter parts of L.A. This meant that when she came home at night she could relax without having to listen to all the bustle of the busy city. She took a hot relaxing bath and ordered some Chinese food then watched some TV before deciding to hit the sack and get as much rest as possible before her journey home the next morning.

Buffy's dreams that night were filled with deep brown eyes and large hands that caressed her body from head to foot. She dreamt of Liam pulling her flush up against his body and ravishing her mouth in a gentle yet possessive way. He lowered her down onto a bed of satin and hovered above her drinking in her beauty as he looked down at her from above. Taking possession of her lips once again his hands roamed to the hem of her white silk nightgown, and tracing her body with the material he pulled it up over the curve of her hips, over her taught stomach to the swell of her breasts and up to pull the garment over her head, ignoring her painfully hard nipples as he passed them. She was now naked to his touch and he worshipped her body with his mouth, hands and tongue, licking, kissing and nibbling as he made his way from her neck down to her most intimate core. Once there he looked at her and they made eye contact as he took in the aroma of her desire and Buffy moaned her desire for him. She wriggled on the bed trying to move closer to him and he took pity on her licking her from back to front in one smooth motion. She arched off the bed as he tasted her, building her up until he felt her peak approaching as her intimate flesh trembled, she saw stars which exploded all around her as the pleasure washed over her in waves. Liam slowly brought her down from her peak and then raised himself up onto his knees and removed his clothing. It didn't take long until he was on top of her again, cradled between her thighs, their naked skin touching and creating the most erotic feeling Buffy had ever felt. She could feel the object of his desire at her entrance and tried to move towards him to stop the ache that had again built inside her. Liam moved so that he was touching the entrance to her core and slowly, inch by agonising inch, he slid his long hard member inside her. As he came to sit fully inside her he remained still for a few seconds to allow her to adjust and to embrace the feeling of being joined so completely. After a few minutes it became more than either of them could stand and they both slowly started to move together, building up the pleasure until they were hammering into each other thrust by thrust seeking their completion. They exploded together shouting out each others names and Liam's sweat covered body collapsed on top of Buffy's in exhaustion from his earth shattering orgasm. Soon he rolled over on to the bed and pulled Buffy with him so that her head lay resting on his chest, her leg draped over his and soon they both fell in to a deep sleep in the comfort of each others arms.

When Buffy awoke in the morning she reached over to hold Liam but he wasn't there, for a few seconds she wondered where he could be, until she realised that she had been dreaming. She couldn't get over how vivid the dream had been; she could still smell his aftershave and taste the saltiness of his skin on her lips. She also couldn't believe the effect he had on her, she had only met him for 3 minutes at the most and already she was dreaming about him. She knew that she had to get this under control; she'd already made a fool out of herself in front of him when she couldn't snap out of her infatuated stare. She needed to take a step back and look at this from an outside point of view. For one she didn't even know who or what this guy was like. He could be demented, or worse Buffy thought, he could be involved.  
"Okay Buffy you need to get your priorities in order." She said to herself, then after looking at the alarm clock on her beside table and jumping out of bed she said "And get your ass moving, shit – I'm going to be so late!"  
It took her ten minutes to shower and dress and another ten minutes to gather everything, shove it in her suitcase and check out before heading to her car. She drove equal to the speed limit all the way home but when she got there she was still forty five minutes late. She quickly parked her car and ran into the house with her suitcase to be greeted by Willow and Tara who had been waiting with Joyce for her to arrive. Smiling to her all three women approached and locked her in a group hug, 'I'm really going to miss this' she thought to herself.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Missing

Author: Neamh1

Disclaimer: Not mine

AN: Thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming:)

"I'm so sorry you guys, I completely over slept. You ready to go, we can take my car." Said Buffy as she gave her mom a quick kiss before leaving with Willow and Tara.  
"It's okay Buffy, we'll take our car, you've already drove enough for today. Where do you want to go first?" asked Tara as they all got into her small red Nova, they pulled away from the kerb and waved to Joyce as they drove off up the street towards the shopping Mall.  
"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm starved, let's go get something to eat first and then we'll shop after." She replied.  
The girls chatted on the way to Sunnydale Mall about the studio and Buffy's new job; she told them about the set she would be working on and the people that Wesley had introduced her to on her tour. When they arrived at the Mall they all went into the food court, grabbed themselves some food and drinks and made their way to a vacant table.  
"So Buffy, what did you think of Liam when you met him? I remember having a big crush on him at one time, he's quite well known you know." asked Willow in between bites from her sandwich. Buffy turned red and got a huge smile on her face, but then quickly tried to hide it and act all neutral on the subject.  
"Yeah, he seemed nice, nothing special though. You know, it's so strange, you meet someone like that and just forget that they're famous, they just seem so regular." she said with mock innocence and at the knowing look on both Willow and Tara's face. "Okay, so he's a total honey, drop dead gorgeous even!" Buffy said and then continued to tell them about meeting him and gave them a sketchy version of her dream about him last night.  
"Wow, one day in the big city and you already found your ideal man, and to top it all off he's gorgeous and stinking rich! You work fast." Said Willow with a cheeky grin.  
"It's not like that; I don't even know anything about him, other than the fact that I want to spend the rest of my life with him! God, I can't get him out of my head." Buffy said in frustration.  
Tara had kept mostly quiet during the conversation finding it amusing to hear Willow teasing Buffy and Buffy trying to deny everything, she would really miss it when Buffy left. She loved seeing them together like this and she knew that Willow would be lost when it was time for Buffy to leave for L.A. Tara had caught Willow crying earlier that morning in the bathroom after they had mentioned Buffy leaving in a conversation they'd had at breakfast. She made a note to herself to try and take Willow's mind off Buffy leaving and try to cheer her up as much as possible. Maybe they could take a trip out to Buffy sometime in a couple of weeks to see how she was doing. Tara spoke up now trying to give Buffy some advice that might allow her to think more clearly.  
"Maybe I'm not the right person to be giving out advice about men Buffy, but have you ever thought that maybe instead of trying to forget him and get him out of your head, you could try to get to know him, maybe he's not your kind and you'll realise it and won't have to worry if he likes you back."  
"Well yeah, but what if he is my type. I mean, what if I fall completely head over heals for him." She said and gave an exasperated sigh.  
"There's nothing wrong with falling in love Buffy. Is this going to all come down to the Parker thing again? You can't keep your heart closed forever, I get it – that you don't want to get hurt again, but love is about taking risks to find the right person. If you don't take the risk then…I'm afraid you're gonna be one of those old ladies's living alone with fifty cats." Willow poured out to Buffy and Buffy noticed that Willow had taken Tara's hand half way through her speech. It made her glad to see her friend so happy; she had been so upset after Oz had left her that Buffy never thought she would find someone else. Now that Tara was with her, Buffy had never seen Willow glow the way she did when the two shared a look or a smile and she hoped she could someday find someone to be like that with.

Buffy had met a guy in their first year of college, his name was Parker Abrahams. She had fallen hard for his sweet talk and charm and had slept with him, thinking that they would be a couple and that she had found someone who cared for her. When Buffy woke in the morning Parker was gone, she had grabbed her clothes and gone back to her own dorm room expecting to have a message from him on her answer machine explaining why he hadn't been there when she woke. Parker had left no message and didn't bother to contact Buffy until he accidentally ran into her on the quad a week later. He had told Buffy that it was just a bit of fun and he was sorry if she thought it might have meant more to him. Buffy was devastated, and if this wasn't enough humiliation for her, Parker then went about the campus telling all the guys what an easy lay she was. The whole campus had been talking about it for weeks and Buffy had gone to class then simply hidden in her dorm room for the rest of the semester. It was only after she met Riley Finn, a T.A. in one of her classes, that Buffy ventured outside her dorm room after class hours. Riley was an old fashioned boy, sweet, kind and a true gentleman. He and Buffy had clicked but Buffy's heart was still too wounded by what Parker had done to let Riley get too close. After a month of dating Riley had been walking Buffy home when they got side tracked. They ended up making out and when Riley went further thinking it was okay and his hand went up Buffy's top, she had instantly pulled away and told Riley she was sorry but it was over. Of course, Riley cared for Buffy and wouldn't except it. He had sent Buffy flowers and left countless messages telling her that he was sorry and he still cared about her. Buffy returned none of his messages and no amount of pushing on Willows behalf had managed to change her mind. One night she had broken down in Willows arms telling her that she couldn't handle being touched and that she didn't feel like she was ready for a relationship at that time. Willow had tried to explain to Riley that Buffy wasn't ready for a relationship and in the end had managed to convince him to give Buffy a little space. After a couple of months Riley had tried again with Buffy but to no success. He finally got together with a transfer student and they had stayed together for the remainder of college, Willow assumed that they were still together now.  
Since then Buffy had dated a few guys but it never lasted longer than two or three dates, Willow had thought that after a few months Buffy would have gotten over it but obviously it was still fresh in her mind.  
"Yeah I know you're right Will." Buffy said, snapping Willow out of her thoughts. "But the thing is, I'm not sure I'm ready yet."  
Tara reached across the table and lightly patted Buffy's hand as a gesture of comfort.  
"Don't worry; you'll know when the time is right." She said with a small smile. Buffy smiled back as a way of thanks then stood up from the table and grabbed her bag.  
"Okay. Let's shop!" Said Buffy as the three friends headed out of the food court and in to the first women's clothes shop they reached.

The girls spent the whole afternoon getting bag after bag of shopping until Buffy ran out of funds. Most of the outfits she had brought were for work, sensible clothes and shoes that would be comfy, stylish and sophisticated. Of course, when shopping she never could pass up the chance to buy a new going out dress with shoes to match. She brought a beautiful satin long white dress that reached her ankles. The dress had a large spilt up the left leg that came to her mid thigh, a square cut neck line with halter ties that were made from sparkling faux diamonds and trailed from the clasp behind her neck down her bare back to the back of the dress which rested level with her hip bone. Buffy didn't know whether she would get a chance to wear it but she knew she had to have it after trying it on and seeing the look on everyone's face in the store when she walked out of the changing room. She had looked stunning, and so she had splashed out and spent the last of her cash on the dress, matching earrings, bracelet and shoes to go with it.  
All three girls were completely exhausted, even though Willow and Tara had spent no money; a shopping trip with Buffy always meant they were ready to collapse at the end of it. They all headed back to the car and Willow and Tara dropped Buffy off at her house so that she could get ready for her farewell meal. They were all going to meet at Laities Restaurant for an Italian meal. It was Buffy's favourite restaurant in town and she and her family and friends were well known there by the staff.

9:00pm and everyone had ordered their food and they all enjoyed possibly the most delicious meal that they had ever had. At the end of the evening, the staff gathered around and brought out a large Good Luck cake for Buffy which her parents had had made for her. She blew out the candles and they all had cake before going home for the night.  
Buffy settled down in her bed for the last night in who knew how long, she lay awake for hours too excited to go to sleep. Everything was packed and ready for her trip tomorrow, when she had gotten home from shopping Buffy had called the studios to let them know which property she was interested in. They had arranged for someone to meet her there at 12pm so she was driving up there and her mother and Rupert were driving up in their car. They would meet with Mr Wyndam-Pryce's assistant and assuming that everything was okay with the property, he would leave Buffy with the keys and she would start moving in her belongings. It took Buffy until ten past three to finally drop off to sleep and she knew as she was drifting off that she would be lucky to make it through the day tomorrow with the small amount of sleep she was going to get.

"This is Sunnydale Radio Station, and good morning to all of you who have just tuned in" Buffy quickly reached over and switched off her alarm clock. The sound coming from it rang through her head, it was 6am and it was time to get ready and load up the car.  
By the time they were all packed up and ready to go it was 9:30, they decided to have a nice steady drive (Rupert's exact words) to the house.  
They arrived in L.A. 20 minutes early and headed straight for the house, Buffy had said that they could always have a look around the outside of the property if there wasn't anyone there waiting for them already. However, when they arrived a blue convertible was parked in the driveway signalling that Wesley's assistant was already waiting for them to arrive. As Buffy parked outside the house on the street and got out of her car she admired the small but beautiful detached house. It was just as beautiful as in the pictures and she knew straight away that she had made the right choice.

"Buffy, it's stunning!" exclaimed her mom as she looked at the beautiful little house. Joyce had seen the pictures but they just hadn't done the house the justice it deserved.  
The outside of the house looked completely new from the brickwork to the white door with the stained glass window, to the white door of the garage on the left hand side of the house. The property had a small garden at the front with a cobblestone pathway leading up to the front door. The windows were very large plain glass, half covered on the inside by blinds and curtains at each window. There was a honeysuckle shrub on the left hand side of the garden that was in full bloom with light pink flowers giving off a fresh sweet aroma. There were also a small row of white and pink flowers in front of the house, Buffy was unsure what type they were but they were beautiful. As she, her mom and Rupert approached the front door a small man in a business suit opened the door and greeted them, introducing himself as Wesley's assistant Jonathon. He reminded Buffy of a mouse, she couldn't believe how small he was and she felt strange looking down at him. She wasn't the tallest person around and it was very rare that she found someone smaller than herself, the fact that it was a male that was smaller just made it plain weird.  
It took Jonathon twenty minutes to show Buffy and her parents around the house and gardens. Every room they went into made them fall in love even more with house and Joyce envied her daughter for getting such a perfect little home.  
The living room was decorated with hardwood floors and matching light wood furniture. The top of the walls were painted cream with a dado rail in the centre and the bottom of the wall was covered in light cream and gold stripped wallpaper. The sofa was a large three seater and there was a matching love chair and foot rest, all made from cream leather. There were a few cupboards in the room to store her belongings and a large music centre opposite the sofa with a TV set and DVD player on the shelf above it. In front of the sofa there was a large cream sheepskin rug with a small glass coffee table on top of it and to the side of the sofa was a small table with a phone on it.  
At the back of the living room was a set of patio doors which lead out into the small back garden. The back garden was pretty much the same as the front but the cobblestone path lead to a small pond. There was a picnic bench on the left hand side of the garden and another small honeysuckle shrub opposite it. The garden had a small wooden panel fence around it to separate it from the neighbours and a gate at the bottom which lead to the street behind the house.  
Leading back into the house was the large kitchen to the right of the living room. It too was decorated in the same way as the living room with light wood kitchen cupboards, and leading from the kitchen was a small utility room with a washer, dryer and dish washer.  
The hall way, and stairs were decorated in light lilac wallpaper and the floors again were all hardwood. At the top of the stairs was a small room painted in soft yellow which had been made into a study.  
The next room was the bathroom which Buffy was particularly pleased about, it was twice the size of their bathroom at home. The room was decorated in black and white tiles and had thick white carpet and a thin horizontal window on the far wall. It had a large shower cubicle in the left hand corner, which would be large for three people with room to spare! A small distance away from the shower was a built in corner Jacuzzi. Following around the room was the toilet and then two sinks built into cupboards with large mirrors adorning the walls above them, which stretched along the right hand wall of the room.  
The next room was a small bedroom with a single bed painted in soft pastel blue, with wardrobes and beside cabinet.  
The last room was the main bedroom complete with fire place, extra large king-size bed, built in wardrobes covered in long mirrors from floor to ceiling. An oriental changing screen was placed on the right side of the room next to the window and in the opposite corner was a cupboard with a standard TV and DVD player.  
"So, is everything to your liking Miss Summers? I must say that this property is the best choice but if you're not happy I could…" Wesley's assistant was cut off by Buffy.  
"No, No, I think it's great. I'll take it, let Mr Wyndam-Pryce know that I am very grateful and will see him first thing tomorrow." Buffy said with a smile as he passed her the keys.  
He then excused himself and left Buffy and her parents alone. They headed back out to the cars and began bringing in Buffy's belongings. Whilst Buffy and her mom started to put her clothes away, Rupert went out to get them all some lunch. By the time he got back half of her things had been put away and so they all headed out into the back garden and sat on the picnic bench to eat their lunch.  
By 6pm everything was put away and Buffy was exhausted, she bid farewell to her parents, which took about an hour because her mom kept fusing over whether Buffy would be alright on her own. She kept suggesting that she move back home and drive every day to work but Buffy and Rupert soon made her realise how ridiculous she was being.  
"Now honey, if you need anything, and I mean anything, you call us and we'll come straight away." Joyce said just before they left. The house had a working phone line and Buffy had given the number to them so they could call her whenever they wanted.  
She hugged both her parents and then went inside after waving them off. She was so exhausted she decided to head straight on up to bed and watch some TV before going to sleep, that way she could get an early start tomorrow.  
It was 9:05pm when Buffy dropped off to sleep, the TV still playing to itself quietly in the bedroom. As she drifted off to sleep she fell into the welcoming arms of Liam, and in those arms she stayed all night long dreaming of what might be to come.

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Missing

Author: Neamh1

Warnings: NC17

Disclaimer: Not mine

AN: I'd like to say you all Rock! You're great, the reviews have been brilliant, please keep them coming and here's the next chapter for you.

Buffy had made it to work early in morning and so she went straight up to Wesley's office, she was hoping that he would take her down and could start her on some work for the day. She had decided to wear a knee length black pencil skirt with a plum satin shirt. She wanted to look stylish and smart on her fist day, plus she thought the outfit made her look very shapely. Knocking on his door Buffy heard Wesley shout 'come in', when she did she saw him fusing around with papers, shoving them into his briefcase and trying to get it to close properly.  
"Good morning Buffy, I'm glad you could make it. Now…I'm afraid I have to go out of the office today to meet with some clients so if you have any problems you'll have to speak to Terry, you know, the director I introduced you to? You'll be working for him today, anything he or the actors need that you know how to do; you'll do it. Lunch is at 1:00pm but don't count on that, it depends on the shooting schedule. Well, I'll see you later, have a nice day." Wesley said as he rushed out of his office, briefcase in hand.  
"Bye" said Buffy, who stood shocked as hell. She was expecting for Wesley to spend at least half of the day showing her around again and helping her to settle in but now she was completely on her own. She started making her way down through the building to try and find the studio that she would be working in. She must have spent 15 minutes looking and she still couldn't find it.

"Take it yer lost?" Buffy heard someone say from behind her. She turned around to find one of the part time actors who Wesley had introduced her to, she couldn't quite remember his name though. "It's Alan Doyle. Don't worry lass, I don't expect yer to have learnt me name already. Come on, the sets this way." He said and took Buffy's arm gently, leading her to the studio.  
"Thanks so much Alan. I've been searching for the right set for fifteen minutes now, Wesley totally ditched me this morning, said he had to go to some client meeting or something. I thought he would have at least stayed for a couple of hours to help me settle in." she said with a grateful smile.  
"That sounds like Wesley, he's hardly ever 'ere. Don't worry, I'll look after yer, and call me Doyle, everyone else does, sounds less formal than Alan don't cha think." He smiled. Buffy immediately liked him. There was just something warm and friendly about him, he reminded her in some ways of Xander, except with an Irish accent.  
They walked in comfortable silence for a while until they reached a building and Doyle opened the door for her, signalling for her to be quiet in case they were shooting a scene. As they entered through another door the only noise was coming from a female and a male having a conversation. Buffy figured they must have been acting and as she got closer to the set she could see she was right. She followed Doyle to a suitable place and they watched Liam and Cordelia having a conversation until Terry shouted 'Cut' and they both immediately walked off the stage over to Buffy and Doyle.

Doyle gave Cordelia a kiss on the cheek. "Nice work there princess, 'ave you two met Buffy yet, she's start' in work 'ere today."  
"I'm Cordelia, nice to meet you; I see you've already met my boyfriend Doyle." Cordelia said, Buffy could see that she was stating her claim as she placed a well manicured hand to Doyle's chest and gave him another kiss.  
Buffy really didn't want to have any misunderstanding with the actress, especially on her first day, so she cleared the air by saying,  
"Yeah, I got lost outside and Doyle kindly showed me where the studio was, this place is like a maze." She then turned to Liam who hadn't yet spoken and smiled at him, he was starring at her and didn't realise that she had smiled until Doyle elbowed him in the chest and Liam winced.  
"Hi, I'm…" he started but was but off by Buffy.  
"Liam, yeah I know. Wesley introduced us on Friday when he gave me the whole 'Big Tour' thing. You were really great up there." She said smiling and pointing to the set where Liam had just been acting out his scene with Cordy. Buffy congratulated herself on how cool her voice sounded, even though she though that at any minute her legs might give way beneath her.  
Liam shrugged his shoulders and smiled back at her, he hadn't been able to keep his mind off her all weekend and seemed to find himself feeling like a love struck school boy when she was around.  
"Hi Honey, I missed you this morning, traffic was hell." Said a blonde woman as she approached Liam from behind wrapping one of her arms about his waist and kissing him on the cheek. "Oh, Hi, I'm Liam's girlfriend Darla, are you the new hired help around here." Darla smiled to Buffy.  
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion for Buffy as she saw the woman that was Liam's girlfriend walk up and kiss him on the lips. Her heart felt as though it was being torn into pieces and she tried so hard not to let the pain of rejection show on her face. How could she have been so stupid as to think that someone like Liam didn't already have a girlfriend, or maybe they were married, Buffy didn't know, nor did she care at that moment. The only thing running through her head was to get away from them all as fast as possible. Before she embarrassed herself even more Buffy answered Darla's question with as much sincerity as she could muster. "Yeah I am, Wesley hired me, it's my first day." She said. Everything about Darla screamed that she was rich and successful and not the type of person to be messed with. Buffy had a flash back of a magazine that she had been reading at home and remembered seeing a picture of Darla and Liam at the time. She hadn't looked too hard and had just flicked past the page but now she wished she had read the article.  
"Oh that's great. Just over there through that door," said Darla as she pointed across the room to Buffy and Buffy turned to see what she was pointing at "That's the canteen, I'll have a low fat latte, and make sure it's really hot." She said with a cruel grin on her face.  
Liam couldn't believe Darla, she was being such a bitch to Buffy and he could see that Buffy wasn't happy about it. The whole glow that she seemed to radiate when she walked into the room had been stripped away by a few cruel words from Darla. He didn't know whether to say anything in her defence or keep his mouth shut in his defence against Darla.  
"Come on Buffy, I'll come with you, I'm finished for now and I could do with a glass of water to wash away the foul taste of Darla." Said Cordy as she linked arms with Buffy and they headed for the kitchen without a backward glance at Darla. Darla was fuming but refused to give Cordy the satisfaction of retaliating to the comment.  
"Darla, do yer have to be such a bitch?" Said Doyle and then turned his back on her and walked away shaking his head. Darla dismissed Doyle without a second thought and turned her attention back to Liam who was still staring after Buffy and Cordelia.

"Don't worry about her Buffy, you'll get used to Darla she's just a bitch. Anyway…Wesley said that you lived in Sunnydale, about 23 hours from here. You're not driving all that way every day are you?" She said as she pushed open the door to the canteen and Buffy followed her inside.  
"No, I took one of the company properties, I moved all my stuff in yesterday with my parents help. I'm all settled now though and it's a lovely place." Replied Buffy, maybe her and Cordy could be friends, they both seemed to hate Darla so that was one thing they had in common.  
"So do you have a boyfriend or are you enjoying the single life." asked Cordy with a mischievous grin as they went and asked for Darla's drink, Cordy got a bottle of mineral water and Buffy had a glass of juice.  
"No boyfriend, but I wouldn't say I was enjoying the single life. Just alone by default I guess." Buffy said with fake laugh which Cordy picked up on.  
"Bad break up? Well, we'll have to sort out that problem, don't worry I'm a great matchmaker." Cordy said as they headed back out of the canteen after disposing of Buffy's empty glass.  
"I had a bad break up in college, I have dated since then but…I guess I haven't found the right one yet." Buffy said and turned to smile at Cordy who smiled back.  
"Here give me Darla's coffee, I'll take it to her, give me chance for another jab at her, then I'm going to find Doyle before his next scene. You okay on your own? If you go over to Terry he'll let you know what he wants you to do today." Cordy said and when Buffy nodded she headed away from her towards where Darla and Liam were talking by the stage. Buffy stood there for a few seconds trying to pull herself together; she couldn't believe how unlucky she was sometimes. She had gotten her hopes up that maybe she and Liam could get together, now she felt so crushed. As she started to walk over to where Terry the director was sitting she looked back over to Cordy who was arguing with Darla whilst Liam stood there in the middle starring at Buffy. She smiled sadly to him and then turned away; she didn't think that her wounded heart or pride could take anymore punishment for the day.

"Um, hi Terry. My name is Buffy, I'm starting here today and Wesley couldn't be here to show me what to do so he suggested I ask you if you have any jobs for me?" said Buffy as Terry looked up and smiled at the young girl in front of him.  
Terry seemed nice, a tough boss to work for but all in all a nice person. He was small with short curly ginger hair and lots of freckles.  
"Sure thing Buffy. We are just about to shoot another scene so if you want to just check that the actors have everything they need and then…the trolley over there," he said whilst pointing out a trolley full of clothes to Buffy, "They are the costumes for the various actors, they need going back in the store room where we keep all the costumes. The room is over there and Jess should be in there, she'll show you what you need to do, that should keep you occupied until lunch." Said Terry as he pointed out a room to the other side of the studio where Buffy could find Jess. Buffy smiled and headed over to where Cordy and the others were sitting on the set still arguing. As Buffy approached she made every effort not to look Liam in the eyes, maybe if she avoided speaking with him and being with him as much as possible she get over this little crush and get on with her job, then maybe in a few millennia they could be just friends.  
"Sorry to interrupt, but Terry asked me if there is anything you guys need before you start shooting." Said Buffy looking at Doyle who was nearly in hysterics over the argument Cordy and Darla were still having, they hadn't even noticed that Buffy had approached.  
"I think we're good to go darlin', but thanks anyhow." Doyle said in his usual Irish accent. Buffy smiled to him and began walking away until she felt someone take her arm from behind; she turned around to find Liam behind her. As soon as he had taken her arm he let go, as much as he wanted, craved to touch her, every time he did he came that much closer to just grabbing her and kissing her, and that was something he couldn't do.  
"Buffy, I just wanted to apologise for Darla's behaviour earlier. She's like that with everyone; I didn't want you to take it personally." He said "and I would really like it if we could be friends." He choked out the last word of his sentence but Buffy didn't seem to notice.  
"I'd like that too, and you don't have to apologise for Darla, if that's the way she wants things to be then I'm game." Said Buffy with a shrug of her slim shoulders. Liam smiled at her 'well aren't you the little spitfire' he thought to himself. "Okay, I'd better get going, I'll see you later." Buffy said, she couldn't stay there any longer, the longer she spent looking into those dark chocolate eyes the further she fell. Buffy hurried off leaving Liam to watch her back as she grabbed the trolley and pulled it over to the door that Terry had pointed out to her. She took a few deeps breathes to try and calm herself down and then entered the store room.  
Buffy spent the next six hours in the store room with a girl named Jessica, Jess as she liked to be called, worked in there with the costumes all the time. She made alterations and kept the costumes in top condition. She showed Buffy how to use the sewing machine and where the log was for the costumes which had to be checked in each time one was taken out or put back into the store room. When Buffy finally emerged Terry was telling everyone that he was mostly pleased but there were a few scenes that he might want to re-shoot after lunch. People started to head towards the canteen for their lunch and on the way Cordy shouted Buffy over to her and Doyle and they headed into the canteen together. They grabbed some lunch and Gunn joined them at their table as they all sat down to eat. Buffy couldn't help feeling a pang of disappointment when Liam walked in with Darla clinging to his arm and they went and sat across the room at another table.  
"Don't worry Buffy; Darla's just trying to keep him to herself. She knows that you two are attracted and she's feeling threatened, that's why she's being such a super-bitch today!" Cordy whispered in Buffy's ear. Cordy had noticed the way the two looked at each other, she knew Liam better than anyone and she could tell when he was attracted to a woman. As for Buffy, Cordy could read her like a book; it was her duty to bring them together.  
"Oh, no - I don't…" Buffy started to deny it to Cordy but she interrupted her.  
"Come off it Buffy, you don't have to deny it to me, I'd be happy to set the two of you up. It would be a pleasure to get misses 'I'm so beautiful and rich' out of Liam's life, he's way too good for her."  
"Cordy, please don't say anything to Liam, maybe if he was single things would be different but he wouldn't be with her if he wasn't happy so please don't say anything." Buffy pleaded.  
"Okay, I won't say anything to him whilst he's seeing Darla. I'll just have to work on getting him to not see Darla then won't I?" she said with a mischievous grin to which Buffy shot daggers at her and then both girls burst out laughing.  
"What's so funny?" asked Gunn and Doyle at the same time.

The rest of the day sped by and Buffy was beginning to settle down and really enjoy herself, Terry had asked Buffy to be a stand in for a short scene as the usual stand in had to go home sick. She had been really nervous but she managed to pull it off and got a small applause after to which she couldn't stop blushing.  
At 6:30pm Terry announced that it was a wrap for the day and everyone could leave. Buffy was shouted over by Darla and as much as she wanted to ignore her she couldn't, Darla asked for another coffee before Buffy left. She was surprised that Darla seemed so nice about it, she had even said please this time with no snide remarks. 'Maybe Liam had said something to her and she had promised him she would try and be nicer towards her' thought Buffy. In any case she went and got the hot drink and then headed back over to Darla.  
"Oh, thanks Buffy." Darla said attempting to take the drink away from Buffy but knocking it out of her hands, intentionally spilling it all down Buffy's blouse as though it was an accident.  
"Oh! Hot! Very hot!" shouted Buffy as the hot drink went through her top and burnt her skin.  
"Oh honey, you should be more careful, it's really hot and you could scald yourself."  
"Darla, what the hell are you playing at!" shouted Liam, he had watched what had happened and stormed across the room drawing everyone's attention to the threesome.  
"It was an accident dear; Buffy needs to be more careful with what she's doing rather than day dreaming around the studio. Isn't that right Buffy?" Darla said making her point to Buffy that she had better stay away from Liam or there would be more trouble.  
"Yeah right." Liam said in a sarcastic voice as he looked at Darla shaking his head. "You okay?" he asked Buffy as he checked her over.  
"Yeah just a little wet." She replied "And burnt. Ow." She said again whilst tenderly checking her skin.  
"Come on." He said taking her hand and pulling her behind him in the direction of the store room.  
"Where do you think you are going? Liam! Get back here now!" Buffy could hear Darla shouting behind them but Liam paid her no attention as they walked away, the show was over and people started packing up again and leaving for the night. Liam led Buffy over to the store room and asked Jess if there was something that Buffy could lend until tomorrow. Jess picked Buffy a red halter-top; Buffy was so small she hardly had anything that would fit her. Buffy went into the sewing room; closing the door behind her she changed her shirt putting her wet one in a carrier bag and then went back out where Liam and Jess were waiting for her.  
"Thanks Jess, I owe you." Buffy said, giving her a quick hug.  
"Are you burnt badly?" Liam questioned his concern evident in his voice. She looked stunning in the top that Jess had given her to lend, the top was low cut enough to show a small amount of cleavage that nearly made Liam choke when she had emerged. He could see now where the coffee had burnt her, her chest was an angry shade of red and he was worried that it might permanently mark her.  
"Just a little red, nothing that won't be fixed by a bit of moisturiser cream." She replied to him.  
They said goodbye to Jess and then headed out in silence, Buffy started to feel uncomfortable again with their closeness and so she excused herself saying she needed to visit the bathroom before leaving. She thanked Liam for his kindness and said that she would see him tomorrow.  
Liam was a little disappointed, he had hoped that they could walk out to their cars together and get to know each other a bit better. He hadn't really seen much of her today, Darla had been clinging to his arm all day after she had met Buffy and she had warned Liam that if he cheated on her it would be the end of his career. Liam started to head for his car but got sidetracked when he met up with Gunn in the parking lot.  
Buffy waited in the bathroom for five minutes before heading out to her car, she got in and fished out her keys from her handbag then attempted to start up the car. The car wasn't going anywhere; she couldn't get it to start. After a couple of attempts she gave up and got out of the car and headed for the pay phone at the end off the lot. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw someone standing behind her after using the phone; until she recognised that it was Cordy.  
"Jesus Cordy, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she said half laughing.  
"I was just on my way to my car when I heard about what Darla did to you; I can't believe the nerve of that woman. I would have smacked the smirk off the bitches face within two seconds. Buffy, you shouldn't have let her get away with it; she can't keep treating you like this." Cordy said.  
"Oh don't worry. I think in the end I got the upper hand." Buffy replied and at Cordy's expression she elaborated. She told Cordy how Liam had seen everything and had a go at Darla, then took her to get a change of clothes from Jess.  
"So, you're having some car problems?" Cordy asked, a scheme brewing in her mind.  
"Yeah the damn thing decides to pick today of all days to break down for the first time ever. Like I haven't had a bad enough first day, then this has to happen. I don't suppose there's any chance you could give me lift, save me getting a cab? The car repair people can't get here today." Buffy asked hopefully.  
"Sorry, no can do. I only live a few blocks away and Doyle and I are going out for dinner tonight so I need to rush home to get ready. But…I did see Liam up there talking to Gunn, you could always ask him for a ride?" she said, again smiling like a Cheshire cat.  
Buffy could see what she was up to. "No that's okay I'll just call a cab, I'm sure they can get one out to me within the hour. It's not like I'm in any rush to get home." She said  
"Suit yourself, but if you change your mind you'd better be quick." Replied Cordy as she began walking off in the hopes that Buffy would get over her pride and just go ask Liam for a lift.  
Buffy checked to see if she had any more change for the phone after saying goodnight to Cordy.  
She had called her breakdown company but they said that they couldn't get out to the car for at least 4 hours and by then the gates would be locked; they had been swamped with calls and were too busy. Buffy told them to leave it until morning, she started to walk back to the pay phone to call a cab when she heard a call pull up behind her and beep.  
"Cordy! I told you no." shouted Buffy, trying to convince her friend that she would not go and ask Liam for a lift home.  
"Sorry to disappoint you." She heard a male voice saying and she turned around to find Liam trailing her in a black convertible. "Cordy said you needed a ride, jump in." he said  
"Yeah I bet she did." Buffy said under her breath so that Liam couldn't hear her, she gave him a grateful smile as she walked around to the other side of the car and jumped in.  
They drove out of the main gates saying goodnight to the guard on their way and Buffy told Liam where she lived. They drove for fifteen minutes in silence until Liam finally found the courage to say something to her.  
"So what's wrong with your car?" he asked, trying anything to break the silence and get her to talk to him.  
"To be honest I'm not sure, it just wouldn't start up, and I'm not really good with cars when they break on me. The breakdown company couldn't get out to me for another 4 hours so I was going to call a cab, Cordy said she had a date with Doyle so I couldn't get a lift from her and I thought you had already left." She said, lying slightly to cover up the real reason why she hadn't wanted to ask him for a ride.  
Liam's cell phone started to ring and he pulled it out of his glove compartment to see that the caller display said it was Darla calling. He really didn't want to answer the phone but knew that she would just keep calling until he did answer.  
"Hello…On my way to drop Buffy at her house…after your little display today?...I thought I'd let you cool off first…you can't honestly expect me to do that…well I won't…It's not that…Darla…will you please listen to me?..." The phone went dead and Liam replaced it in the glove department with a sigh.  
"I take it that was Darla; did I get you into trouble?" Buffy asked at the look on his face when she mentioned the other woman's name.  
"I think I was in trouble way before the phone call. Don't worry about it, she'll get over it in about a month." He said, and he wasn't exaggerating either. He had never known someone who could hold a grudge longer than Darla could. Liam had an idea and turned to Buffy and smiled to show her that he wasn't bothered by Darla's call.  
"You haven't had anything for dinner yet have you?" he asked and at the shake of her head he said "Well would you like to come and have some Chinese with me now, I know this great little place not far from here. Then after I'll drop you off at home?"  
"Sure, why not." Said Buffy smiling to him, inside she was feeling as though she had just jumped off a cliff. What was she thinking, she had always said that she would never get involved with a man that already had a partner, and whether he and Darla were arguing at the moment was beyond the point. The problem was that Buffy really didn't trust herself with Liam; every time she was near him she felt all tingly inside. It felt so right to be with him that it scared her, nothing like this had ever happened to her before, well except for Parker and look where that got her. She just wanted to take back what she had just agreed to and go home and hide under her covers but it was too late now, she had already agreed.

Ten minutes later and they pulled up outside a small Chinese restaurant; even though small it was very elegant. Inside a Chinese lady stood next to a stand with menus and when they approached her she greeted them both with a warm smile.  
"Liam my dear, it's so nice to see you. You haven't been around for a while, we were starting to worry, and the food was stacking up in the kitchen." Both Liam and the woman laughed and he gave her a kiss on the cheek, she showed them to a table and left them to choose from the menu.  
"Liam, when you said a Chinese restaurant I wasn't expecting this. I don't mean to be a pain but right now I can't afford this; I haven't even had my first pay check!" Buffy rambled on quietly but nervously.  
"Don't worry about it Buffy. The owners are friends of my family, I come here all the time and they never charge me full price. Anyway, I'll pay for our food that way you owe me a dinner, okay?" he said smiling at her mischievously. This way he could get two meals with her and they could spend some more time together.  
Her stomach did a flip flop at the suggestion of another meal, possibly a date. "Okay, but be warned, your meal may come as fish and chips in paper sitting on the beach not in a fancy restaurant." Said Buffy smiling back, she couldn't hold back from him any longer and so she just relaxed and planned to enjoy herself. This might be the only chance she got to enjoy his company alone so she'd make the most of it whilst she could.  
"That sound's nice." Said Liam, he was enjoying her company so much that he didn't notice that Mia had returned for their order.  
"Are you two love birds ready?" she asked smiling at them, Mia liked the new blonde girl a lot more than Liam's previous girlfriend.  
"Oh no Mia, we're not together." Liam said.  
"Shame. Anyway, what would you like tonight?" she asked, and they both gave Mia their orders.  
When they had finished ordering Mia took away their menus and told them their food would be about twenty minutes. Buffy was worried that it would seem a lot longer than that and they would be stuck in one of those uncomfortable silences, boy was she wrong. They chatted about everything from family and friends to hobbies, they couldn't believe they had been talking for twenty minutes when Mia came with their food and set it all out on the table. They sat and ate their food whilst chatting in between and occasionally sharing their food with each other. When they were finished Buffy was slightly disappointed to have to leave the little restaurant. Unlike some places that were very snobby, the restaurant had been lovely with a relaxed atmosphere.  
When Liam pulled up in Buffy's driveway he got out of the car and went around to the other side to open the door for her as she got together her things. He walked her up to the front door.  
"Would you like to come in for some coffee?" Buffy asked as she turned around at her door and Liam took a step closer to her, if Buffy took one step forward their bodies would be touching and both were painfully aware of that fact.  
"I would…" said Liam struggling with his answer  
"But?" said Buffy, she knew that something was coming after and she knew it wasn't something she wanted to hear.  
"I should really get going, I don't think it would be…right," he said quietly as he took that one step forward and lowered his head to hers and their lips met in an electrifyingly bittersweet kiss. Before the kiss could turn more serious Buffy had a flash of Darla in her head and pulled away from him, he looked at her breathless and confused.  
"Darla, we shouldn't…" Buffy panted, but Liam no longer cared and claimed her lips again, this time the kiss was soft and gentle, claiming her and making Buffy's knees weak, she held onto his strong body for support. They slowly broke apart and Liam rested his forehead against hers, he smiled to her and Buffy returned his smile.  
"I should really get going now." He said and struggled to pull himself away from her firm but supple body. "Would you like me to pick you up in the morning and give you a ride to work?" Liam asked as he slowly backed a few feet away from Buffy.  
"That would be nice" she said huskily, she really didn't want Liam to go but she knew that he if came inside with her now that he most likely wouldn't leave until morning and that could have some really bad ramifications, especially if Darla found out.  
Liam walked back up to Buffy and gave her a quick kiss on the lips telling her he would see her tomorrow morning at about 6:00 and they would have breakfast on the way to work. Buffy watched as Liam got inside his car and backed up from the driveway and waved to her. Little did either of them know that there was also someone else watching Liam drive away from a short distance down the street. In a red Porsche sat a seething Darla, she had decided to go out and pick up some food for herself on her way home when she noticed Buffy and Liam walking into the Chinese restaurant that he usually took her. Darla had waited outside for them to finish their meal and then tailed them back to Buffy's house and seen everything that had taken place outside her front door. She was in two minds whether to follow Liam and have it out with him or breakdown Buffy's door and kick the shit out her for messing with her man. Darla had a better idea and drove down the street in the opposite direction. She headed to the closest club and got herself completely drunk thinking about how she was going to make Buffy pay for humiliating her. She wasn't going to let the little tramp get away with it, not for anything.

Buffy went inside her house feeling great and way too excited to sleep. She felt like going for a jog around the block but decided against it as it was already late. She was just about to head on upstairs and take a shower when she noticed she had a message on her phone. She went back and listened to it, it was her mom trying to find out how her first day had gone. The message told Buffy to call her no matter what time she got in so she switched on the TV and took her shoes off, settling herself on the sofa to call her mom back.  
Buffy was on the phone for an hour when she finally said goodnight to her mom and went to bed. She had told her mom everything that had happened during the day including the kiss with Liam. Her mom was happy that she was finally moving on and starting to date again. Although Buffy had said it was just dinner and a kiss, her mom could tell that she really liked this man and she was happy for her daughter. She wished Buffy sweet dreams and said that she would call again the next day and they could arrange to meet at the weekend if possible.

The next morning Buffy was waiting for Liam in her living room when she heard his car pull into the driveway. She came out and locked the front door behind her and turned to see Liam leaning back against his car. She wasn't sure whether she should just say 'Hi' or give him a kiss but the question was answered for her when he smiled and took her hand giving her a kiss on the cheek.  
"Good morning, you look nice." He said. She was wearing a pair of cream bootleg trouser and a black strapless top with thin cream diagonal lines on it. It had taken Buffy almost and hour to decide what to wear today, she had wanted to look really nice for Liam and now she was convinced she had chosen the right outfit.  
"So do you" she said checking out his clothes. He wore a pair of black jeans and a cream shirt with the top few buttons open. "Liam I think we need to talk about last night." Buffy blurted out.  
"We need to talk about last night" said Liam at the exact same time, they both laughed and Liam opened the door for her to get in then he went around and got in himself starting up the car. "We'll talk later, at lunch. I'll meet you outside the studio and we'll go grab something to eat, okay?"  
"What about Darla, don't you think she'll get suspicious?" said Buffy worrying about the scene the other woman would cause if she saw Buffy and Liam heading out together.  
"Don't worry, Darla isn't going to be at work today, it's in her contract, everyone else works nearly all week if needed but Darla gets every Tuesday off." He said smiling at Buffy's nervousness; Liam had decided last night that he was going to break it off with Darla and try to make things work with Buffy. He knew it was crazy, they had only really known each other for one day but he felt like he had known her forever. It felt so comfortable to be around her and to talk to her. He knew that this was right; he just hoped that she felt the same way about him. Things with Darla had been great for the first couple of months but after that they had been going downhill ever since. She was so controlling and stuck up and Liam hated the way she always argued with his friends. Breaking up with Darla was something he should have done a long time ago; it was about time that he moved on to better things.  
After stopping for pancakes for breakfast they arrived at the studio ten minutes late and parked up, each of them wanting to take the others hand but not daring to for more than one reason. When they entered the studio the shooting hadn't started yet, most of the actors were getting their makeup done. Buffy and Liam noticed how everyone seemed to stare at them when they walked in. Liam gave Buffy a puzzled look and they headed over to where Cordy and Doyle were sitting have their hair and makeup done.  
"Hey guys what's going on, it's like we walked in on our own funeral." Liam joked but no one laughed.  
"Well in a way you did. Darla stormed in twenty minutes ago and dragged Wesley up to his office raving about you and Buffy. Care to elaborate? All we managed to get from her hysterics was something about kissing and Buffy being an 'interfering little bitch' - those were her exact words I think." Cordy said to Liam and Buffy, Doyle nodded to confirm Cordy's story and Buffy felt like she was going to barf.  
"Hey Buffy, Wesley wants to see you in his office, now." Wesley assistant Jonathon shouted through the door to her.  
"Oh God…oh God, I'm so going to be fired." Buffy panicked and started to walk away from the gang; Liam caught up with her and turned her around to face him. He cupped her face with his hands and tilted her head to look him in the eye.  
"Buffy don't worry, you'll be fine, Darla has most probably just grilled Wesley and he'll just be warning you to be more careful." He said and smiled, then he gave her a kiss, to which they could both hear gasps around the room, and when he pulled away he smiled to her and she turned around and headed up to Wesley's office.  
Buffy knocked on the door three times and heard Wesley telling her to come in.  
"Buffy please take a seat, no doubt you have been informed that Darla has been ranting and raving about you and Liam and what happened last night. Apparently she saw you two on her way home and well, I don't think I need to relay the story to you. I'm afraid Darla has given me a rather cruel ultimatum and under any other circumstances she would be fired for doing so. However, Darla is a well known actress and worth a lot to this company and show. She has given me one day to decide who stays in their employment with the company, you or her. I'm so sorry Buffy but we can't afford to lose her. There's no one we could find to take her place at such short notice and we can't afford to wait to find someone. Do you understand what I am saying?" Wesley asked her and Buffy nodded her head, she had one solitary tear sliding down her cheek and Wesley felt so sorry for the poor girl, nobody should have this done to them, especially on their second day of work. "Don't worry about the property, you can stay there for a little while longer but I'm afraid you will have to move out after a few weeks, it isn't company policy to rent the properties to someone who is not in our employment. You will be provided with a lump sum for your troubles and I can not apologise enough, I really am sorry Buffy. I think it would be best for all if you went straight home today, you don't have to work any notice, just go home and relax. And again my apology's." Buffy stood up and Wesley watched as she left his office, he felt bad about having to do that to her but it was out of his hands.  
Buffy leaned against the wall outside Wesley's office but when she heard voices heading her way she quickly ducked into the ladies bathroom just down the hall. Once inside she sunk to the floor in the corner and her tears fell hard and fast. She should have never taken the job, it had just been one disaster after another and she had only been working there for one day! What was she thinking off, taking on the likes of Darla; an actress. How could she possibly stand up to that? Now she would have to move back home and show her parents what a failure she was at living her own life. She felt like dying and wished that Liam was there to hold her and make everything better. The door to the girls' bathroom opened and Buffy attempted to move from her position until she noticed it was only Cordy.  
"Oh Buffy, Wesley just told us what happened, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" she asked Buffy as she sat down next to her on the floor, Buffy just couldn't stop crying and Cordy took the shaken girl into her arms whispering soothing words of comfort.

Meanwhile, in Wesley's office Liam was about to pound a hole into something and at that moment Wesley's face seemed very appealing.  
"I can't believe this, fire Darla not Buffy, she didn't do anything wrong Wesley. What we do in our own time has nothing to do with our jobs."  
"Liam, I know that but it's out of my hands, there is nothing I can do. Darla knows that we can't fire her which is why she did this; we can't find anyone to replace her at such short notice. You know that the interviews for actors take an obscene amount of time and for Terry to find an actor he thinks fits the part, well, we'd be looking at another 2 weeks at least! We simply don't have the budget to wait that long." Said Wesley, he could understand Liam's frustration and was trying not to anger the young man any further, the last thing he needed was for Liam to quit himself because of the situation.  
"Buffy!" Liam exclaimed out of the blue, Wesley looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. "Buffy, she used to act in plays at the theatre where she lived and she worked in Boston before. She did a great reading yesterday as one of the stand-ins. Let her try for the part." Liam suggested.  
"Liam, I know you're trying to be helpful but that is the most preposterous idea I've ever heard. You can't honestly expect me to fire an actress of Darla's calibre for a young lady who has performed in a few theatre plays?" said Wesley.  
"Come on Wesley, give her one chance, let her do a reading this afternoon and if Terry and you aren't one hundred percent happy with her performance I won't give you any more arguments. You owe her this Wesley…and besides, she could always sue you for unlawful dismissal." Said Liam in a threatening voice, he knew that Wesley would buckle under the pressure. He just hoped that they could pull this off.  
"Fine, I'll go and see Terry now, we'll choose the scene and then you have until 3:00pm this afternoon to have rehearsed the lines with her. One chance Liam, that's all I can give you." said Wesley.  
"That's all we need. Thanks Wes." Said Liam as he quickly ran out of the room and headed for the last place that Cordy had said she was going to check for Buffy.

Doyle was standing outside the ladies bathroom when he saw Liam come along the hallway. He had been waiting outside now for fifteen minutes and Cordy still hadn't come out so he figured either she had found Buffy or she really liked looking at herself in the mirror.  
"Are they in there?" asked Liam as he got closer to Doyle, when Doyle nodded his head Liam walked straight in and saw Cordy crouched on the floor with a sobbing Buffy in her arms. He knelt down on the floor and nodded to Cordy, she let go of Buffy and went outside to wait with Doyle whilst Liam spoke to her.  
Liam pushed the hair out of Buffy's face and lifted her chin up with his finger so that she would have to look at him.  
"Are you okay?" he asked her whilst tenderly wiping the tears from her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. "I spoke to Wesley, he's going to let you read for Darla's part this afternoon, if Terry is satisfied then they will keep you on and fire Darla instead. We have a lot of work to do, we only have until 3:00 to practice the lines, they're choosing the scene right now. Are you up to it?" he asked, hoping with all his heart that she would say yes. She smiled at him but it was full of sadness.  
"Liam, I'm sorry but I can't do this. I'm a theatre actor, not a TV star. And I can't do this whole us thing right now, it's just not working, everything's just gone wrong from the start and I think its fate's way of telling us to stop. I think I should just go home, pack my things and move back in with my parents. I want to thank you though, you've been really nice and…"  
"Really Nice! That's all you have to say to me, I just stuck my neck out for you and your going to pack up your things and go!" he shouted then turned his back on her. He realised that he shouldn't be acting like that but he was hurt that it was that easy for her to just forget him and move away. He felt a trembling hand rest on his shoulder and he turned to see fresh tears in Buffy's eyes. The anger he felt instantly drained away as he pulled her into his arms and embraced her.  
"It's going to be okay, we can do this." He whispered softly into her ear and after a few minutes she pulled slightly away from him and he could see the determination in her eyes.  
Buffy and Liam left the bathroom holding hands and Liam nodded to Doyle and Cordy who followed them out of the office building and back to the studio to meet Wesley and Terry.  
When they got in the building they were both discussing something over a piece of paper and the four young actors approached the director and manager.  
"Here, we have marked out the scene that we want you to perform," said Wesley handing both Liam and Buffy a script book. "Liam, you should have already learned the lines for this so you can take Buffy back to your dressing room and practice there, Terry will send someone for you when I arrive down here at about 3:00. Good luck Buffy." Wesley said as he walked away from them back up to his office. Wesley was hoping that Liam and Buffy could make this work, he didn't want to fire Buffy and if she could act the scene out well enough to please Terry then Wesley would enjoy firing Darla.

Liam led Buffy back to his dressing room and suggested they both read over the script a couple of times to let Buffy know what her lines were. Truth be told, Liam just didn't know what to say to her. Before they got to work he was sure that they were going to try to make it work between them but after her little speech in the bathroom he wasn't sure whether that was what she wanted anymore. He decided to play it cool and not make any further moves towards her until he knew what she wanted. The problem was that if Buffy got Darla's part he would have to be close to her all day long, and in more than one way. There were scenes a few episodes on where Beth and Angel kissed and got extremely intimate. That would mean Liam would have to try and put aside his feelings and kiss Buffy in front of everyone without getting carried away with his feelings for her.  
On the other hand if she didn't get the part then she would likely move back to Sunnydale to live with her parents and he had little doubt that he would never see her again.  
They practiced for hours trying to get Buffy's character right, Liam was really impressed, she seemed to have it down almost as good as Darla but he could tell the difference which wasn't good. Unfortunately they were out of time; Doyle knocked on the door and told them that everyone was ready. The thing that made it worse was the fact that everyone had heard what was going on and had gathered around to watch the performance.  
Terry shouted Buffy over to him and spoke with her about the character of Beth, he tried to explain the background between Beth and Angel, Liam's character, so that Buffy could try and understand the anger and hurt of her character in this scene. After a few minutes Terry clapped his hands to get everyone's attention and Buffy and Liam walked on to the set. The camera men were ready to film the scene and the lighting was all set. The scene began by Beth walking in to Angel's office and confronting him about the past few years. As Buffy walked through the set's fake door her stomach flipped and she was full of doubt but it was too late to go back by then.

"Beth?" he said in a slightly breathless tone as he looked up and saw her standing in his doorway.  
"Angel, thought I'd drop in and see how you were doing, I can see you look fine, I'm good by the way, although, you already know that don't you?" She said in a sarcastic tone.  
"Beth, I don't want to fight. How did you find me?" he asked and at the look of anger flashing in her eyes he knew it was the wrong question to ask.  
"How did I find you!" she yelled at him pacing back and forth in his office. "Alex slipped up at Christmas about your visit. I'm sure you can imagine how the conversation went from there. Yelling here, screaming there and then a lot of being extremely pissed off. Who the hell do you think you are? I thought you were dead, do you have any idea what my life has been like? The amount of nights I've cried myself to sleep missing you…wanting you to be there just to hold me. And all along you've been here, right under my nose and you've been spying on me when you decided to drop into town for a day! I can't believe how selfish you've been, and I can't believe that the people I called my best friends could keep this secret from me knowing how much I've been hurting over the past four years." She said, wanting to breakdown but she was not willing to shed anymore tears for him.  
He desperately struggled not to walk over to her and take her in his arms. "It's not like it's been easy for me either, not being with you but watching you suffer and knowing that I could end that suffering-"  
"Then why didn't you!" she shouted, and she couldn't hold back her tears any longer as they cascaded down her face like a river.  
"Because you deserve better than me. Than what I could give you, I'm no good for you Beth and we both know it." He shouted back, the anger of the familiar argument raising his voice. "I thought that if I just gave you time to come to terms with it, everything would be better this way, I did what I thought was the right thing to do. I did it for you."  
"Angel, I love you."  
"Don't say that, it's been four years, you've been happy for some time now, why did you have to come here and ruin it all. You could be at home with your family now or out with Pete on a date like a normal couple. Instead you're here with me, arguing."  
"Wow, you didn't notice at Christmas?" she replied in an astonished tone. "Pete and I broke up; he left because I couldn't give him what he wanted from me…my heart…my love, because it belongs to someone else – to you." She said taking a step towards him, he took a step back and saw the hurt that the single movement had caused her.  
"I didn't come here to fight with you Angel…well…I did but…that's not the way I want things to be. In a minute I'm going to walk out that door and go home. I just want you to know this – I'm not going away for good, and I will be back here to see you whether you want me to or not, I can't let go. And if you leave here, I will find you, no matter what it costs me." She walked back towards the door and before she walked through it she turned to him one last time, "I still love you." She said and then walked out leaving the door open behind her.  
"I love you too." Angel said, but she was gone.

Liam's heart was screaming to him by this time, the whole scene had brought out feelings in him that he didn't want to think about. The little audience that had been watching their scene applauded them which snapped Liam out of his reverie.  
He and Buffy walked over to Terry and Wesley who were both smiling, Buffy had actually performed the scene better than they had rehearsed in his dressing room and Liam was sure by the looks on both of their faces that she had got the part.  
"Congratulations Buffy my dear. You are our new Beth, I have a few things to speak with you about, just things like contracts and salary but that can be done tomorrow. For now Terry and I have agreed that you two can finish up for the day to practice your lines, or if you rather you can practice them here, your choice. I'll just go and inform Darla of our choice, this should be quite entertaining." Said Wesley with a smile as he walked away from them. Terry began to do some work on the script which left Liam and Buffy standing in silence.  
"Buffy I know we need to practice but I could do with going home to let my dogs out." Liam said, wanting to put some distance between them. He needed some time alone to think about what had happened in the short two days that he had known her.  
"Oh…well if you want I could come with you and then we could run some lines after, it's just that…well…my car's still not working and I have no way of getting home unless I get a lift. Then again its okay, I can ask Cordy." She said turning from him, he didn't want to be with her, she could tell. She'd just get a cab home and spend the night reading her lines and eating a take out, she felt so bad but didn't know how to make things right between them. She knew that the reason he was being distant was because of the talk they had in the bathroom. He had been so mad when she had said that she was just going to leave, Buffy hoped that it was because he wanted to see her again but the way he was acting now made her unsure.  
"Buffy," he said taking her arm before she could get much further away from him. He knew that he should have just let her leave, his head was saying one thing but his heart was saying another, that's the reason he always ended up getting hurt in relationships. "You can come with me, it would be nice to have some company, I'll make us something for dinner as well if you'd like?" he asked and got a huge smile from her in return.  
"I'd like that a lot, I'm just going to go and grab my purse, I left it in your dressing room, I won't be long." She said and rushed off to get her purse before he changed his mind.  
When Buffy returned she could see Liam talking to Wesley and the news didn't look good, she suddenly had butterflies in her stomach and she felt as though she was going to bring back all the food she had eaten for breakfast. Maybe Darla had made Wesley change his mind and he was telling Liam that Buffy would have to leave anyway. She approached the pair with caution and when she reached them they both turned to face her with solemn looks.  
"Buffy, Wesley managed to get a hold of Darla and let her know that you are staying here. Apparently she went ballistic when she found out that you would be playing her part and she passed a threatening message onto Wesley to give to you." Liam said to Buffy and saw the colour drain from her face.  
"Buffy, might I suggest that you stay at a friend's house tonight, as Darla knows where you live it might be tempting fate for you to stay on your own tonight. Is there anyone that you could stay with?" asked Wesley.  
"I don't know anyone well enough here; I'll have to go back to my parent's house tonight, I think that will be best." She replied and smiled her thanks to Wesley as he walked off and left them alone.  
"You ready?" asked Liam  
"Yeah, but I need to use the phone first to call my mom, she'll have to come pick me up later. I got a message on the way to get my purse, they need a new part for my car, and they won't have it until the weekend so it looks like I'm stranded till then. They're taking it to the garage and are gonna drop it off when it's fixed." She said smiling and walking with Liam towards the pay phone in the parking lot.  
"Buffy, this seems like a lot of trouble for your parents to go through, why don't you ask Cordy if you could stay at her place for the night?" suggested Liam. Buffy agreed and ran over to ask Cordy. When she returned to Liam she shook her head and said that Cordy was throwing a party for her father's birthday. She had said that Buffy was welcome to stay if she didn't mind the noise but Buffy said that she would feel she was intruding.  
"Well…you're welcome to stay at my house…if you'd like. We could collect some of your things now then head over there. That way we'll have all-night to practice your lines ready for tomorrow." Liam suggested, he knew it was a gamble but maybe if they could spend some time alone away from work and everyone else, they could get a chance to talk.  
"Well, I don't want to be a bother but that would be really great. It would save me the journey tonight and tomorrow morning. You sure you don't mind?" She said and when he shook his head they headed for his car.  
They drove to Buffy's house first and Liam waited in the living room whilst Buffy gathered a change of clothes and some other things she needed. When she had finally got everything together she got to the top of the stairs and had to shout Liam for some help.  
He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that she was struggling to bring down a small suitcase on wheels and a holdall. "Buffy, you're only staying one night right? Cause with all this luggage it seems like your moving in permanently." Liam said and she playfully hit him on the arm.  
They got her luggage in the car and then headed to Liam's house, when they arrived Buffy was in awe at the size of the place, it was a mansion, she couldn't believe that he lived there. There was a set of electrical mains gates to the grounds and a long driveway up to the front of the house where Liam parked up the car and let Buffy out. She had somehow managed to forget that Liam had been acting his whole life and whilst not being as popular as someone like Sean Connery, he was still well known and obviously very well-off. They headed up the few of steps to his front door and Liam let them in with his security key card, once inside they were bombarded by two huge dogs. One dog, Bertha a Spaniel and the other Fritz was a Dalmatian, both dogs ran up and Liam dropped Buffy's bags to greet them. Buffy stood a distance back unsure of whether the dogs were friendly or not. When the dogs noticed her they went to her and Buffy let them sniff and check her out for a few seconds before petting them, the dogs went crazy trying to lick her and Buffy got down on the floor playing with them. Liam was surprised by the dogs actions, normally when he brought a girlfriend around the dogs would come to greet him and then steer clear, both dogs hated Darla but they seemed to like Buffy. Another clear sign that she was the right woman for him. When they calmed down Liam led Buffy up the stairs to the one of the guest rooms with the dogs hot on their heels. He showed her into the room next to his and then placed her things down next to the bed. The dogs were going wild at him and barking at something up the hallway. Looking at his watch and seeing that it was already turned six he suggested that Buffy read through some lines whilst he fixed them something for dinner and let the dogs out in the garden for a while. He made them honeyed chicken with potatoes and green beans and took in two slices of kiwi cheesecake for dessert. They ate their food in comfortable silence and after rehearsed lines and scenes together whilst chatting and joking in between.  
"Buffy you're a complete natural to this; it took me hours to learn the lines." He said to her, he couldn't believe how easy she could memorise everything.  
"Like a steel trap." She said tapping the side of her head with her finger then uncontrollably yawning as Liam laughed at her.  
"Yeah, I guess it is getting late, it's already turned one. Maybe we should hit the sack – not together of course…you know what I mean." He said getting a little flustered.  
"Yeah" she asked as she leaned a little closer to him across the sofa.  
"I just…" he forgot what he was about to say when her small pink tongue came out of her mouth to moisten her plump lips. Leaning forward he took her bottom lip in his mouth worrying it tenderly between his teeth and earning a small moan from her.  
God she loved this, the feel of him, the taste of him on her lips and the smell of him on her skin when he touched her. When they kissed it seemed like all the lights everywhere else dim and it was just them, no sounds, no movement…nothing but the feel of his tongue gently massaging hers.  
They both pulled away breathless, foreheads touching and staring straight into each others eyes.  
Buffy didn't want to break up what was happening but she feared what it might lead to if she continued on the same path with him. "Maybe I should head up to bed; it's going to be a long day tomorrow and I'm gonna need a lot of rest if I'm going to keep up with your acting skills." She said smiling to him as she slowly pulled away and stood up.  
"I'll take that as a compliment. Don't worry Buffy, from what I've seen tonight you're going to blow Terry out of his seat tomorrow." He said with a smile, getting up. "Anyway, I'm just going to go and get a drink before I go to bed, if you'd like I can bring you one up too."  
"Please, I'll just have a glass of water; it'll save me getting up later. I'll see you in a minute." Buffy said as she headed up to her room.  
The room she was staying in was beautiful, it was decorated in ivory and deep red, the sheets on the bed were satin and there was a large fireplace opposite the bed. The door to the other side of the bed which Buffy hadn't noticed before led her through to a bathroom. From the bathroom was a door leading into another room which was similarly decorated only with some hints of black. The whole house was decorated in an 18th century style and she really liked it, it felt very homely. She got her clothes out of her bag and placed them in the bedside drawers that Liam had said she could use. She then put on her pink shorts and vest top for bed and grabbed her tooth brush going into the bathroom to brush her teeth and have a wash.  
Liam knocked on Buffy's door with her glass of water but he got no reply so he slowly opened the door and peeked inside, when he couldn't see her he walked in calling for her and she came out from the bathroom.  
"Oh hey, thanks." She said taking the glass from him and setting it on the night stand beside the bed. He couldn't move from the spot he was standing, she looked so adorable in her little pink pyjamas. He didn't realise that he was starring at her until she smiled at him and said jokingly "Liam? You got a little drool, just there." She indicated on her own face to the corner of his mouth. He averted his eyes and laughed.  
"Sorry, it's just, you look really cute." He said slightly embarrassed.  
"You think I look nice now, you should see me in my Sunday best." She replied.  
"Maybe someday I will. Anyway, I'll just be next door if you need me. Good night Buffy." He said and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She bid him goodnight and then climbed into the large bed and snuggled under the covers falling fast asleep.  
Liam, however, couldn't sleep at all, he kept thinking about the small beautiful woman wrapped up in the bed next door. He must have gotten out of bed and headed for her door at least ten times, just wanting to see if she was still awake but every time he stopped himself. His feelings were running away with him and he needed to get them under control or he would scare her away. With those rational thoughts in his head he again attempted to fall asleep and finally managed to a couple of hours before he needed to get up.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Missing

Author: Neamh1

Disclaimer: Not mine

Warnings: NC-17

AN: Thanks for all the great feedback, please send more and i hope you all enjoy the next chapter.

Buffy woke early that morning, the clock on the mantelpiece above the fire said that it was only five but she knew that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. She decided to head downstairs and make herself and Liam something for breakfast, maybe some eggs or an omelette, she'd have to see what he had in first.  
As she entered the kitchen she was startled by Liam's form standing at the counter drinking a glass of juice, when he noticed her he turned and gave her a smile.  
"Good morning," she said and walked to him giving him a quick kiss on the lips boldly, he looked slightly startled but she didn't really notice as she carried on talking and moving about the kitchen, "I didn't think you'd be up yet. I thought I'd make us some breakfast if you're up for it?" she said looking in the fridge to see what she could make. "We can't go to work on an empty stomach." She smiled at him curiously, he was looking at her in such a strange way she thought something was wrong until he took a step towards her and claimed her mouth with his. The kiss wasn't tender or gentle like it had been the night before, it was rough and fast and she felt him back them up against the counter. Something didn't feel right and Buffy began to push him away but he only kissed her harder. A million thoughts were going through her head, why was he being like this, had she somehow unintentionally upset him? The next thing Buffy knew, he was being pulled away from her by…Liam? Two of them, what was going on? Liam punched the other man in the face and he stumbled backwards into the kitchen counter.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" said Liam barely controlling his anger towards his twin brother Angelus. When he had walked into the kitchen and found them kissing he had been taken over by rage and jealousy, but after he noticed that Buffy was trying to push Angelus away his rage scaled up ten notches and he couldn't hold back from planting a firm punch in his brothers face.  
"Hey to you too brother, and for your information, she kissed me first." Angelus said, with a wicked grin on his face. He rubbed the spot on his face where Liam's fist had connected and looked back to Buffy who was standing next to Liam in shock. When he'd seen her walk in the kitchen he thought she was the cutest thing he'd ever seen, he'd wanted to take her right there and then on the kitchen floor…and he might have if Liam hadn't interrupted them. He had taken advantage of owning his brothers face, and not for the first time either.  
"She didn't know it was you." Liam defended Buffy and then turned around to see her pale features starring between him and Angelus. He walked to her and lifted her chin to look at him but she flinched at his touch and Liam took a step back. "Are you okay?" he asked, he was hurt that she had pulled away from him but after seeing Angelus forcing himself on her like that he could understand it, he pushed his feelings aside to try and speak with her. She simply nodded her answer to him and Liam could see the emotions running through her.  
She couldn't decide if she was angry, scared or upset, one thing she did know was that she would never mistake Angelus for Liam again.  
"Buffy, this is my twin brother Angelus. He's supposed to be in prison though." Said Liam waiting for Angelus to explain why he wasn't and more importantly, why he thought he could just walk into his home uninvited and make a move on Buffy.  
"I'm hurt you didn't keep in touch Liam. My sentence is over early for good behaviour, I'm a free man; I got here yesterday afternoon and unpacked my things in my old room. Hope you don't mind, it's just for the next few weeks until I find something more permanent. I was surprisingly tired anyway so I hit the sack and woke up early this morning to be greeted by this lovely creature." Angelus said raking his eyes up and down Buffy's firm, supple little body. Her anger at him clearly displayed in her features, Angelus thought that she was going to attack by the look she gave him. He smiled to her, enjoying the fact that she was so responsive to his taunting, this should prove to be a very interesting few weeks, he thought to himself.  
"That's why the dogs went mad when I came home yesterday, because you were along the hall in your room." Said Liam thoughtfully remembering the way his dogs had behaved yesterday.  
"Yeah, dam dogs, nearly attacked me when I walked in. Anyway, I'm going to get ready, I have a lot of business to see to today. No doubt I'll see you later brother dear. Buffy…it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Said Angelus as he gave her a smirk and left the kitchen leaving Liam all but growling behind him.

When Angelus had left the room Liam turned around to face Buffy and she practically threw herself into his arms. She couldn't describe the way Angelus had made her feel and she really didn't want to talk about it, she only wanted to find some comfort in Liam's arms and remind herself that it wasn't him who had made her feel that way. They stood there like that in the kitchen for what seemed like hours, neither one wanting to move out of the others embrace. Finally Buffy pulled slightly back with a sheepish smile; he smiled back and then sat her down at the island in his kitchen and proceeded to make them both some breakfast. After, they went up to their rooms and both got ready for work. Buffy was still annoyed at Angelus but she knew that she had to push aside her feelings and concentrate on her work if she wanted to keep Terry and Wesley happy, so that's what she did.  
When Buffy and Liam arrived at work Buffy was informed that she now had been given Darla's old dressing room which was right next to Liam's. Terry had told them they might want to stay at the studio for the rest of the week because they had a lot of work to catch up on what with all the re-shoots that were needed, and it would be easier all around if they were close to hand. The day flew by and everyone was impressed with Buffy's acting skills. Just before they were about to leave for the day Terry said that he wanted to try the scene where Liam and Buffy would kiss to see what the chemistry was like between them. Terry had heard the rumours that Liam and Buffy were getting close but he didn't want it to interfere with their jobs and the sooner both got used to the difference between on stage kissing and offstage, the better in his opinion.  
Buffy and Liam had rehearsed the lines last night but they had chosen not to practise the kissing; they didn't think that Terry would have them do that until they reached that episode which was still a way along in the series. They took their places on the set and waited for Terry to tell them to begin, Buffy again noticed that there was a crowd assembled to watch their performance as usual and it wasn't really making things easier for her. Liam must have noticed the worried look on her face and he quickly squeezed her hand in an attempt to comfort her. She smiled to him and then took her place as Terry told the camera men to start shooting.

Beth heard the doorbell ring and she went to answer it, opening the door she was shocked to see Angel on the other side.  
"Angel? What are doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you but…is there something wrong, is that why you're here?" Beth babbled on, she hadn't expected for him to come to Rivers End after her, in fact she had expected him to simply hide from her for as long as he could. He didn't say a word and when she finally finished babbling he walked up to her and pulled her against his muscular body claiming her mouth with his. He claimed her so completely and never wanted to move from the heaven of her arms but knowing he shouldn't be doing this. He pulled away quickly, breathlessly.  
"I'm sorry Beth I shouldn't have…"she cut him off putting a finger against his lips to stop him from saying the hurtful words she knew he was about to say.  
"Don't…just kiss me." She said and he lowered his lips again to hers, the kiss was softer this time, full of longing and regret from time spent apart.

"Cut!" shouted Terry, both of them had seemed extremely nervous when he had suggested trying the scene, Buffy more so than Liam, but once they got into their roles they were brilliant. The only trouble being that he had shouted 'cut' and they were still kissing.  
They were in a world of their own, they hadn't heard Terry shout cut, or the whispers of people watching them kiss; they were oblivious to everything but each other. That was until someone threw a small squash ball at them which hit Liam on his head, he pulled away from Buffy's lips to see Doyle, who had thrown the ball, and practically everyone else in the room, laughing at them. Buffy's cheeks turned a bright shade of red and Liam stepped back embarrassed that he had not noticed Terry shouting 'cut'. It was something that had never happened with Darla, his on stage kisses with her had been just that, and he really had to make an effort to put any passion into them. With Buffy it happened naturally, the fire and passion just came forth and claimed him and he was helpless against it.  
"Okay guys, no need to tell you two that was great. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow, let's keep those emotions running shall we, good work everybody." Said Terry as he got up from his chair and left them to go home for the night.  
Both Liam and Buffy had decided to stay at the studio for a few nights to make an early start so Liam dropped her off at her house telling her he needed to go and feed the dogs and ask Angelus if he would feed them for the rest of the week. He told her he would come by and pick her up at 7:00 and they would go and get some food to take back with them to the studio.  
Buffy entered her house and went upstairs to get some more clothes to take with her, Liam had said that he would pack her toothbrush and hairbrush and bring them with him later but he'd leave her clothes there for another time. Buffy entered her room and noticed that something seemed out of place, there was something in the room that was different than the way she had left it the other night, when she looked at her bed she realised what it was, the pillows on her bed were arranged differently. Buffy always placed her pillows the same way every time she made her bed, she liked everything to be neat and tidy but the way the pillows were arranged were completely different. It might have been possible with everything on her mind that she had done it differently, she thought to herself but then realised that it was very unlikely. She walked around the house and sure enough she found that certain things had been moved. Starting to get nervous she called Liam on his cell phone and asked him to come pick her up straight away, she sounded panicked on the phone but wouldn't explain just telling him to get there now. Liam sped back to Buffy's house which didn't take him long; when he got there she was sitting on the front door step waiting for him. He jumped out of the car and ran over to her.  
"What's wrong, are you okay?" he asked, he could make something out in her eyes but didn't know what it meant.  
"Liam, I think someone's been in my house." Said Buffy and she led Liam into the house showing him certain things that were out of place that she hadn't left there or used the day before. There was food missing from her fridge, not much, just an apple and a bottle of juice, if she hadn't realised something was wrong she wouldn't have even noticed that they were missing.  
"Come on, let's get your things and get out of here." Said Liam as he took her hand and led her up the stairs, she pointed out which room was hers and they went in to get her clothes.  
"Liam, you don't think Darla would have broken in and…" she trailed off not knowing what to say. She couldn't exactly say 'do you think Darla broke in, slept in my bed and ate my food', she'd sound like one of the three bears.  
"I don't know Buffy. I wouldn't put anything past Darla but she's more the confrontational type, not the sort to lurk about messing with your head, besides, there was no sign of a break in. We'll get your stuff and then when we get to the studio I'll give my friend Kate a call, she's a cop, she might want to come and have a look at the house so don't touch anything." Liam said as she passed him clothes and he placed them neatly in the holdall she passed to him.  
They hurried out of her house, locking the door behind them and got into his car and left for the studio.  
Darla watched as they left, she couldn't believe Liam had just dropped her the way he had, especially for someone like Buffy Summers. Maybe she should pay him a visit in person when little misses goody two shoes wasn't around. She had always been able to wrap him around her little finger, he would be hers again.

Liam had picked up an Indian for them on the way back and he had just finished speaking with Kate on his cell phone, she had told him that she would swing by tomorrow after they both finished work and take a look at the place, Buffy and Liam were to meet her there at six thirty to show her what had been moved.

Liam looked over at Buffy who was playing with her food sitting on the wide sofa in her dressing room, not really paying any attention to the food or the TV. He walked over to her and sat down taking the fork out of her hand and placing the plate on the coffee table at the side. Then he turned back to her and took one of her hands in his whilst he told her what Kate had said.  
"You really should eat something you know. We've got a long week ahead and you need to keep your strength up." Said Liam, getting up from the sofa.  
"Not hungry," she replied and looked up at him with a questioning gaze.  
"I was going to go back to my room, you know, watch some TV before bed as you don't really seem up to company right now." He said.  
"Please don't leave me." She replied in an almost childlike tone. She could tell by the look on his face that he didn't think it was good idea so she quickly added "at least stay until I fall asleep?" when he smiled and sat back down next to her she moved closer and leaned against him, her head fitting perfectly in the crook of his neck and his arm circling her waist and resting gently on her hip. "This has got to be the strangest few days ever. What with Darla, Angelus and now this, I feel like hiding in a box and shipping myself to some deserted island." She said in a depressed tone.  
"I'm so sorry about Angelus Buffy, he's always been that way, he thinks that no woman can resist him. I'd understand if you didn't want to come by my house again whilst here's going to be staying with me." Liam said, he couldn't believe the nerve of his brother, he realised that whilst in prison Angelus mustn't of had any women but that was no excuse to start with Buffy.  
"No it's okay, next time I'll just kick him where it hurts if he gets too close. I won't let him bully me again." She said and Liam laughed, he knew she had a spark and he loved that but most women would be having nightmares about what had almost happened to Buffy, she however, had already planned her strategy for their next meeting.  
They decided to watch the movie that had started about ten minutes ago on one of the movie channels, half way through the movie Liam looked over to Buffy who was still snuggled up to his side and noticed that she had fallen asleep. Rather than disturb her and try to move her to bed he grabbed the faux fur blanket that was resting on the back of the sofa and covered them both with it. He continued to watch the movie, intending on sliding out from under her when it had finished and going back to his room to sleep. He just wanted to spend a few more minutes with her curled up against him, the feeling of love and security that accompanied her whenever they were together. Before long his plans flew out the window, he felt asleep on the sofa with Buffy wrapped in his arms, both dreaming contentedly about the other.

"Doyle, quick, come look at this." Shouted Cordy to her boyfriend, Doyle gave a sigh and walked over to her and she led him down the corridor to Buffy's dressing room where she had just come from.  
"I came by to see what was taking them both so long and look what I found." She said as she quietly pushed open the door to the dressing room. There on the sofa was Buffy and Liam curled up together, Buffy had her head resting on Liam's chest with one arm over his waist and Liam had both arms protectively circling Buffy's waist. "They look so cute." Said Cordy, "Let's wake them!" she said but Doyle pulled her back out of the room.  
"Delia, princess, why not leave 'em to wake up themselves?" said Doyle, he was pretty sure that they would both be embarrassed about being found like that because he knew after a talk with Liam earlier yesterday that he had strong feelings for Buffy. Liam hadn't been sure whether Buffy had felt the same way but after what had happened with Angelus he had decided not to ask her just yet and give her some time.  
"Sorry, no can do. Besides, Terry said he wanted them both ready in fifteen minutes." Said Cordy and she went back inside the room. "Wakeup!" she shouted at the top of her voice making Buffy and Liam jump out of their skin and fall of the couch on to the floor. Buffy landed on top of Liam and they both quickly got up, Cordy was nearly in stitches laughing at them and they both turned and glared at her, obviously not happy that she had woken them in the way she did.  
"I'm sorry guys, I tried to stop her, but you know my Delia." Doyle said with an apologetic smile.  
"It's okay Doyle, why exactly did you wake us with the highest pitched screech ever?" asked Liam as he worked at straightening his shirt which was all crumpled.  
"Terry wanted to start a little early today, you two were the only ones not already here and so he said he wanted you're cute little butts in makeup in fifteen minutes." Cordy Said.  
"Shit, okay, I'd better go get ready. See you in a minute?" Liam said to Buffy as he headed for his room with Doyle and Cordy following him. Buffy nodded and grabbed her towel and some fresh clothes heading into her bathroom. She decided to take a shower to be quick and she was all ready it ten minutes. She was just combing through her wet hair when Liam knocked on her bathroom door and she called him in.  
"Leave you hair Buffy, they'll need it wet to style it anyway." Said Liam taking her hand and dragging her away from the mirror.  
They headed to the set and went straight to the stylist so that they could be prepared for the days work.

That week shot by, Buffy and Liam stayed at the studio every night for two reasons, the first was that it was easier with them having to get up early every morning and the second was that Kate had suggested it. When they had met Kate earlier on in the week she had taken a look around Buffy's house and Buffy had shown her what was out of place. That night there had been some of her clothes missing which Kate thought might mean it was a male going through Buffy's belongings. However, she had said it would be best to check all possibilities and that she was going to speak with Darla to see where she had been that week. Kate told them that she would get back to them on Friday night and meet them at Buffy's house at 6:30pm.  
Late on Thursday night Buffy and Liam had gone back to his house to make sure that Angelus had been taking care of the dogs. They found him in the kitchen eating a sandwich and the dogs were lying in the living room in front of a blazing fire. Buffy went to sit with dogs whilst Liam went to his room to get another set of clothes and get a film for him and Buffy to watch later that night.  
After a couple of minutes Angelus went into the living room and found Buffy curled up with the dogs watching TV.  
"Hey." Angelus said in his best Liam impression to see if he could fool her again.  
"Hey yourself." Replied Buffy, she knew that it was Angelus and she really wanted to pay him back for treating her the way he had the other morning. Angelus attempted to approach her on the floor but Bertha began to growl so he settled for the seat on the sofa as close to her as he could get.  
"I was wondering how you'd feel about coming out with me for dinner tomorrow night, a little candlelight, romance…" he said hoping that the dogs behaviour hadn't tipped her off that it was not his brother speaking to her but Angelus himself.  
"You know, they say that a dog is a mans best friend." Buffy said as she got up from the floor when she heard Liam walking down the stairs. "It's no wonder they don't like you, you're more of a pig than a man." She said and walked past Angelus who was sitting with his mouth hanging open at her comment.  
Liam met Buffy at the living room door and after seeing the look on Angelus' face he gave Buffy a questioning look. She smiled to him and simply walked out the front door with Liam following. When they got into the car Buffy told Liam what had been said between her and Angelus.  
"That'll teach him to mess with you." Liam said laughing.  
"You know, you should do that more often." Buffy said laughing along with him.  
"Do what?" Liam asked.  
"Laugh and I mean a full hearty laugh. It suits you and I haven't seen you laugh all that much since I've known you." Buffy said thinking of the few times that she had seen him this happy.  
"Well…you'll have to keep making me happy and you'll see it more often." Liam said in a very flirting manner and leaned slightly closer to Buffy. "Buffy I…I don't want to scare you away but I really care for you and I need to know if you feel the same way for me?" Liam finally asked her. It had been driving him crazy all week and he needed to know how she felt.  
"I care for you too…but I don't want to rush into anything. We've only known each for a few days and it scares me that I care so much. I haven't felt this way in a long time and I'm afraid to get hurt." Buffy replied baring her soul to him.  
"I know what you mean, I'd never hurt you intentionally Buffy, and I agree that slow is good but I don't want to be dancing around the subject of 'us' any longer. I want to be able to hold your hand and know that it's alright with you. I want to let people know that you're my girl…is that okay?" Liam asked her whilst mentally preparing himself for her to say no.  
Buffy gently touched his face and looked straight into his eyes smiling. "That's what I want too." She said and leaned forward closing the distance between them and kissing him softly. The kiss was slow and soft, a declaration of love and understanding between the two. Buffy slowly pulled back and they shared a moment of silence before Liam started up the car and pulled off.  
Through the front window of Liam's house Angelus stood watching the scene between the pair. He felt something hit him the moment he saw Buffy touch Liam and move in to kiss him. It was something that he had never felt before and never wanted to feel again. He turned away and went back to sit on the couch and watch TV, trying to take his mind off the small blonde who had captured his heart so easily.

By Friday evening Buffy was getting anxious, she hadn't been home all week so she didn't know what state her house would be in, Kate said that if anything else was missing by the end of the week they would get someone to watch the house and possibly put in some cameras if it continued.  
It was now 5pm and Terry and Wesley had gathered the whole crew together to have a talk with them all. Everyone had been working extra hard all week to try and catch up to the point where they had finished with Darla. Liam and Buffy were particularly exhausted because they had to re-shoot all the scenes that Darla and Liam had done together. Both of them were ready to collapse but they had gathered around and Liam had found a chair to sit on pulling Buffy onto his lap to wait whilst Terry spoke to everyone.  
"Okay guy's, I don't want to keep you here for too long, we've been shooting great this week and I'd like to give a special mention to Buffy who has done some fabulous work." Terry said and everyone cheered at her. "Okay, now, Wesley and I have been checking the shooting schedule and found that we are a few days ahead, we've decided that rather than keep you working we're going to let you have the weekend off as a thank you. So, make the most of it because it might be the only weekend you get in a long time. I'll see you all Monday at lunch and we'll go over the plan for the next few weeks." Finished Terry and everyone started cheering then practically running out of the place before Wesley or Terry could change their mind. They were all familiar with not having weekends off and they planned to get out and enjoy themselves.  
Buffy went to her dressing room to collect some of her things before they went to meet with Kate. Liam went to speak with Cordy and Doyle and some of the others to see if they all wanted to have a party at his the next day. He thought it was the best way to try and ease some of the pressure off Buffy and a good way to start a free weekend. Most of them agreed and Liam told them to meet at his at house at 10:00am. He could get some pizzas delivered and he had plenty of alcohol in the cellar so there was no need to worry about that. If he was lucky Angelus would go out so they wouldn't have to put up with having him being around.  
Buffy came back with a small bag of things and they headed for her house, when they arrived Kate was already waiting for them. Buffy let them all in, scared of what she might find she let Liam and Kate go in first. They first went straight along the hall and checked every downstairs room but nothing seemed out of place. Then all three headed up stairs to check the rooms up there. They went from bedroom to bedroom but nothing seemed as though it had been touched. When they reached Buffy's room Kate stopped dead in the door way and Buffy and Liam cautiously stepped forward to see what had stopped her, on Buffy's beside table was a bouquet of fresh flowers. The flowers were obviously expensive, a mixture of white roses and lilies and they had been placed in the vase that was normally empty in the kitchen. Buffy froze and didn't know what to do, Liam tried to comfort her by placing an arm around her shoulders but she stepped forward and moved past Kate walking towards the flowers. She removed the note on the flowers to see if it would say who it was from. Her hands were shaking that much that she couldn't open the small envelope so Liam took it out of her hands and took out the card. In black printed writing were the words:

Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind

-Soon.

"I've heard that before. What's it from?" Liam asked after he had read the verse aloud.  
"It's from William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream." Replied Buffy as she looked at the flowers. "It's the last play that I performed, I played Hermia…Oh God!" she said and collapsed on to her bed.  
"Buffy, do you have any idea who this might be, any old boyfriends that live here or someone you've met since you moved here." Kate asked as she kneeled in front of Buffy.  
"No, I haven't had a boyfriend for over a year now and the only men I've met here are the people at work, and Liam's brother Angelus." Buffy replied and Kate turned to look at Liam.  
"Liam, you know what I'm going to ask don't you?" said Kate.  
"He wouldn't, Kate. He just got out of prison, he doesn't even know where Buffy lives." Said Liam, although he didn't know who he was trying to convince.  
"Well, just to be safe I'd better speak with him and find out where he's been all week. Can I come with you now to yours? Buffy you're staying with Liam tonight right?" Kate asked the nerve struck girl in front of her.  
"Yes she is, you can come with us but I'm not sure he'll be there. I haven't really been home all week because of work." Liam said and went about grabbing some things for Buffy and putting them in her bag for her. They all went down and Liam locked up whilst Buffy and Kate got into the cars. Kate said she would follow them to Liam's and so they left Buffy's house and headed away.  
When they arrived at Liam's Angelus' car was at the front of the house so whilst Kate and Buffy waited in the hallway Liam went to find Angelus. He found him in the kitchen and then sent Kate in to speak with him whilst he and Buffy headed for the living room.  
After twenty minutes Kate went past the living room being shown out by Angelus, she waved to them both and then said good night to Angelus and left, Kate had thought it would be better not to speak to them about her thoughts in front of Angelus. She would call them later and speak with Liam.  
Angelus went back into the living room to Buffy and Liam who sat curled up together on the couch.  
"It wasn't me." he simply stated looking at the pair of them, he was hurt that they would have thought he would break into Buffy's home and try to scare her like that. He was also hurt that they would bring Kate over here to question him; at least he didn't have to go down to the station.  
"We never said that it was you Angelus. Kate just wanted to speak with you so that she could cross you off the list." Liam replied to his brother, he didn't think that Angelus would be the type to do something like that. For one reason he had only just got out of prison and stalking was illegal, for the second reason, if Angelus liked a woman then he would just go straight after he, not leave her flowers at her house.  
"I'm sorry Angelus. Like Liam said, she just needed to make sure, it was nothing personal." Buffy repeated Liam's words, she didn't want to be rude to Angelus, after all he was Liam's brother and she would be staying with them both until the situation was sorted out and she could go back home. She really didn't need to make matters worse by making Angelus angry.  
"It's okay Buffy. There's nothing to apologize for, I just wanted you to know that it wasn't me." He said and took a seat next to her on the couch.  
She smiled to him and the three sat there in silence watching the TV for the remainder of the night.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Missing

Author: Neamh1

Disclaimer: Not mine

Warnings: NC-17

AN: Thanks for all the great feedback, please keep it coming, it makes me write faster! Thanks!

"Buffy, are you up?" asked Liam as he knocked on her side of the bathroom door in the morning. She opened the door and Liam looked at her rumpled form. She was still wearing her shorts and vest top PJ's and her hair was everywhere, he could tell that he had woken her. "Sorry to wake you but it's getting late and we have visitors." She gave him a questioning look but he wasn't going to give anything away. "Take a shower and put on your bathing suit, I put it in your bag last night, and then come down to the back garden." He said and before she could ask any questions he ran out of the bathroom and went downstairs. Everyone was already there; he had let Buffy sleep in thinking that she would make her own way down but by half past ten Cordy had started to complain saying that she would never get up so Liam had agreed to see what was taking her so long. Angelus had joined them in the garden by the pool and was now talking to Doyle. After about twenty minutes Buffy finally came downstairs and was surprised to see everyone there. She recognised most of them from work, there were a few strange faces but she wasn't really bothered by it. She had taken a shower and then put on the white two piece bathing suit that Liam had packed for her. She couldn't even remember him packing half of the things that she had now in her drawers. She thought about how she had just considered them her drawers. She felt so at home in Liam's house, like she belonged there. She noticed Liam standing behind the bar and Cordy sitting on one of the stools next to it so she headed over to them.  
"Hey, you look nice." Liam said to her when she reached them, and moved to her giving her a quick kiss. He wasn't expecting the electric shock he got from touching her bare skin, it was so silky beneath his fingers, and he wanted to run his hands over more of it but knew that if he didn't move away now he wouldn't be able to stop himself. He handed Buffy a long island ice tea and she took the seat next to Cordy.  
"So, Mr., what's with the pool party?" asked Buffy playfully jabbing him in the chest over the counter and then taking a sip from her drink.  
"Well, I thought you needed something to cheer you up and we all got the weekend off so I thought it would be a great opportunity for you to cut loose a bit." He replied smiling at her, she seemed to glow now and he was sure that the party had been a good idea. The pool area had been decorated in Hawaiian style; Buffy guessed Liam must throw parties here often and already had all of the decorations. To one side of the pool was the bar, the other side contained a table with fruits and other snack foods, there were sun loungers to the top end of the pool and the other end led to the tennis court where Buffy could faintly here tennis being played over the music that seemed to be coming from everywhere.  
"Yeah, Liam's nice like that." Said Cordy, "I honestly don't know what took you two so long, even with Darla out of the way it took you long enough!" Cordelia exclaimed with an exaggerated sigh and walked away from the pair to grab her boyfriend.  
Buffy and Liam laughed at Cordy's bluntness; Liam walked around and pulled Buffy up from her chair intending to go to the loungers when Angelus approached them.  
"Hey. Nice bathing suit." Angelus said as he looked Buffy up and down and then went to the opening of the bar to get himself a drink.  
"Uh, thanks." Said Buffy, slightly embarrassed, she knew that she looked good in this suit, that was why she had brought it but know she was wishing she had brought a towel or something to cover up with. She had been hoping that maybe Liam had put the hot tub on that she had seen the other day and they were going to take a quiet dip together – no such luck! Liam pulled her away from Angelus and the bar and over to the loungers to where Cordy and Doyle now were.  
"Would you like something to eat?" Liam asked Buffy as he sat down on a lounger, she shook her head but smiled her thanks. She could now see what he was wearing, she hadn't noticed before up in the bedroom due to her half asleep state but she was glad for the small black shorts that he wore. His broad muscular chest was a light golden colour because of the great weather they had been having and it made him look so great that Buffy could barely control her hands. He moved up on the lounger and Buffy sat in the middle of his legs and leaned back against his chest. He placed his arms around her waist and Cordy gave them both a grin and all four sat talking.  
Meanwhile at the bar Angelus was serving drinks for a while when his friend came to speak with him.  
"Hey, what's up?" said Jarred, noticing that Angelus was a bit distracted.  
"Nothing." Angelus bit out, watching how Buffy settled into Liam's arms and seemed to fit so perfectly, he couldn't help but be a little envious.  
"Who's the babe?" Jarred asked following Angelus' gaze to his brother and the blonde in his arms.  
"Liam's new squeeze, her name's Buffy." Angelus replied and poured himself another shot of whiskey knocking it back immediately.  
"Very nice, but I thought Liam was dating that Darla bird?"  
"They broke up, apparently Liam couldn't keep his hands to himself after he met Buffy and Darla caught them together, or so I've heard from people around here today. She's working as his co-star now, took Darla's role." Angelus replied, Liam was now coating Buffy's back with some sun cream as Doyle was doing for Cordy. Angelus couldn't believe how totally hot she looked today, when he saw her that first morning she looked really cute, like a virgin, pure and innocent. Now she looked totally fuckable and Angelus mouth was watering thinking of the way she had tasted when he had kissed her that morning. He would do anything to kiss her again but if Liam found out that he had tried something again with her there was every chance that he would throw Angelus out on the street to protect Buffy. That was something that at the moment Angelus really didn't want, he liked staying at the mansion and he could cope with looking but not touching, at least he hoped he could.

"Liam! I knew it, I knew you wouldn't keep you're hands off that little tramp!" Darla shouted as she strode across the poolside to where Buffy and Liam were sitting.  
"Darla, we're finished. It's none of your business what I do now, so please leave." Liam said as he got up and stood in front of Buffy.  
"And you! You got me fired! I hope the show flops, you could never stand up to me, Liam and I were together for three years, you don't honestly think you can walk in here and have that kind of chemistry after a week do you? You make me want to vomit!" shouted Darla at Buffy, Liam was trying to stand between them to stop any fight that might brake out.  
Buffy had had enough, who the hell did she think she was…royalty? "Darla, do you see how much of a fool you're making out of yourself just by being here. You weren't invited, nobody asked you to be here because nobody wants you here. You throw these tantrums like you're still six years old, you expect people to do whatever you say and you speak to them like shit. Do you think it's any wonder that you keep coming in last?" Buffy said and Darla lunged for her but was stopped by both Liam and Angelus. Angelus had approached when he heard Buffy mouthing off to Darla; he couldn't believe what a woman she was. Darla was a spoilt brat, good in bed but no where near Buffy's standard in any way. He thoroughly enjoyed seeing her knocked down a peg but when she went to attack Buffy that was the last thing either brother would let happen. Both Liam and Angelus practically dragged Darla off the grounds kicking and screaming, Liam took her spare key from her, he had forgot she still had one. They watched as Darla stormed off in her car saying something about Liam being the one missing out and that she as too good for him.  
When they returned to the pool Buffy and Cordy were sitting chatting as if nothing had happened and Doyle was bringing them more drinks. Liam went and sat back in his spot behind Buffy and took his drink from Doyle. Angelus pulled up a lounger and sat next to Cordy and Doyle until Cordy and Buffy decided to go and get some food. The girls got up and walked to the table grabbing two plates on the way.  
"So, how's living with Liam and Angelus going?" asked Cordy watching as Buffy got a dreamy smile on her face. "Yeah, I can imagine. God what I wouldn't have done for a threesome with those two." Buffy looked at Cordy with surprise and Cordy laughed it off. "Oh come on Buffy, I may love Doyle but I do have eyes! Liam is so nice and sweet and he has the great body to finish off the cake, but Angelus is a bad boy and so exciting, I bet they could keep you going until you passed out." Cordy said taking a bite from a chicken leg.  
"You might not say that if you were in my shoes." Buffy said and proceeded to tell Cordy what had happened the other morning in the kitchen.  
"Oh my God! Okay, so maybe he's a little scary. One question though, do they kiss the same or is one better than the other?" Cordy asked quietly as they approached the guys again.  
"You are intolerable!" Buffy exclaimed as she took her seat and shared her food with Liam.  
"What did my lovely girlfriend do or say now?" asked Doyle trying to take a chicken leg from Cordy's plate but getting his hand slapped.  
"Nothing." Both girls replied at the same time.

The rest of the day went by without anymore incidents and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, Cordy, Doyle, Gunn and Jessica were all going to stay over that night and go with Buffy and Liam the next day to Liam's beach house on his speed boat.  
Everyone decided to go up to bed at around midnight, Liam hadn't realised that he was one room short and told Buffy that she could stay in his bed whilst he slept on the sofa.  
"It's okay Liam, we're a couple and I trust you. You can stay with me if you want to, the beds big enough for two." Buffy said as they headed upstairs together and showed everyone to their rooms. Cordy and Doyle were staying in Buffy's bed and Liam gave them clean sheets before leaving them alone. Liam was truly touched that Buffy trusted him enough to let him sleep in the same bed as her and he promised himself that he would be a complete gentleman and not give her any reason to take away that trust.  
When they finally got into Liam's room Buffy went into the bathroom to change, she had a clean nightdress to wear and wished that she had brought something a little less sexy as she was sleeping with Liam and didn't want to give him the wrong impression. She was nervous about sleeping with him but reminded herself how great it had felt the morning at the studio to wake up in his arms.  
When she walked back into the bedroom she saw Liam sitting on the bed flicking through the TV channels. He was wearing only a pair of black cotton pyjama trousers, Buffy couldn't help but look at the well defined muscles of his chest and the marble smoothness of his back.  
Liam wasn't faring much better, he had turned to look at Buffy when she walked back into the room and his breath had been taken away. She was wearing the sexiest night dress he had ever seen, it was black silk and reached down to her ankles, held up by thin straps with lacy cups covering her breasts. Buffy stood there for a while and when she noticed that he was staring at her she moved her hands to cover herself up.  
"Buffy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare." Liam began but she cut him off in mid sentence.  
"No…Liam its okay, I just didn't have anything else to sleep in. Things like this don't seem embarrassing when no one else see's you in them." She said looking down to the neckline which barely covered her breasts. "I can go change into a t-shirt or something if it makes you un-comfy?" Buffy asked and started backing towards her back pack which had been placed in the corner of the room.  
"Buffy no, please. You look great and it's not un-comfy at all. I saw you in less today in your bathing suit." Liam tried to rationalise and got up from the bed and walked over to her. He took Buffy's hand and led her back to the bed.  
"I just didn't want to lead you on, I know what it must look like but-"  
"It doesn't look like anything but you being completely beautiful as usual." Liam said and they sat down on the bed together. "Remember when you said you wanted things to go slow? Well I agreed to that and I would never pressure you into something you didn't want to do. If and when you're ready to go further, then I'll be here, but I won't ask any more of you than your ready to give." He said. Buffy was nearly in tears and she pulled him to her for a soft kiss.  
They both got under the covers and Liam pulled Buffy into his arms to watch the film that was starting. Buffy rested her head on his chest and his arms circled her waist holding her close to him. It wasn't long before the pair had fallen asleep in each others arms both looking forward to spending the next day with each other.

The next morning everyone was up and ready early. Liam and Buffy went in his car, the others got in Cordy's car and they followed Buffy and Liam to the docks. When they arrived Buffy was stunned by the boat, it was painted navy and white with a small inside cabin where the girls could change into their bathing suits. There was a long cushioned navy seat behind the steering wheel where the guys sat whilst Liam drove the boat along the shore line to the beach house. The girls had all packed a bag with some clothes in as they were all going out for dinner that evening. They went down into the cabin and all changed out of their beach clothes and into their bathing suits. They grabbed their towels and made their way back up onto the deck and spread out their towels next to each other to do some sunbathing whilst they waited to reach their destination.  
It took about half an hour to reach the beach house, it wasn't far from the docks but Liam didn't see the need to rush the journey. He tied the boat to the jetty and they all headed to the house to put their things down. The beach house was decorated in light wood and white paint, it looked beautiful and Buffy fell in love with it. There were three bedrooms and Liam had planned on staying in the attic which he had converted the year before into an extra bedroom. Liam showed everyone to their rooms for the night and let everyone get settled in whilst he ordered them sushi for lunch. They all did their own thing for a few hours until the food was delivered and then they sat at the wooden table on the porch together and ate their food.  
Buffy was feeling more like herself, she was so grateful to Liam for doing this for her, the party yesterday had been great, except for the Darla incident, and today was turning out to be wonderful as well. The weather was perfect, nothing but blue sky and sunshine.  
After lunch Buffy and Liam decided to go for a stroll along the beach whilst the others played volleyball with Liam's equipment. Buffy put her jean cut-off shorts on with her bikini top, it was really hot and she didn't want to get all hot a sweaty in front of everyone. As they set off for a walk Liam held hands with her and they headed along the beach together in comfortable silence. When they reached the lighthouse at the other end of the beach Liam helped Buffy along the rocks and they sat on one of the larger rocks together. Buffy leant her head against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. The warm mid day sun was shinning down on them keeping them warm and both couldn't remember feeling so content in a long time.  
"Have you enjoyed yourself this weekend?" Liam asked Buffy, hoping that he had managed to put some fun back into her life.  
"Yeah, it's been wonderful…you've been wonderful." She said and turned her head so that they were face to face. Liam leaned down to kiss her, when he pulled her looked down at her.  
"Don't hurt me Liam," she said to him and his heart broke at the fear that reflected in those few spoken words.  
"Never." He replied and kissed her again, soft and sweet at first but then as the passion built and Buffy turned her body to face him straddling his waist, the kiss grew uncontrollably. Buffy could feel the object of Liam's desire pushing against her core as she pressed firmly against his body. She ached to be closer to him and as Liam's hands roamed her back and waist she felt herself loosing control. They both pulled away breathless and smiled at each other.  
"That was…" Buffy started.  
"Intense." Liam finished for her. When he touched her he could feel an electric pulse running through him spurring him on, his mind was telling him to slow down but his heart was telling him to keep touching her and to never let go. He thought back to the joy he felt last night when she had fallen asleep before the end of the film, she had looked so beautiful and peaceful lying in his arms. If he wanted to feel that again he had to slow down and get himself under control.  
Buffy snuggled back into his arms and he tightened his hold around her as they turned back to watch the sunset.  
"This is so perfect. There's no where else I'd rather be than here with you right now. I don't want this moment to ever end." Buffy softly whispered to him.  
"This moment might end but it doesn't mean we can't make others like it. I intend on keeping you Buffy, you make me feel truly alive and I'm not going to let you slip through my fingers. I'm going to try and make things perfect for you always from now on so you'll never want to leave me ever." Liam replied from the depths of his heart, he meant every single word he said and he knew that no matter what, he would love her for the rest of his life.

When they arrived back at the beach house and entered the living room they had a surprise, sitting on the sofa in the watching the TV was Angelus.  
"What are you doing here?" Liam asked, annoyed when he saw his brother.  
"Well, I couldn't make it this morning which is why I came up here this afternoon." He replied  
"There's no where for you to stay, all three rooms are taken and the sofa bed in the attic is too." Liam told his brother hoping that he would take the hint. Liam hadn't invited Angelus because he wanted to get away from him and his snide remarks. He had been driving Liam mad ever since he arrived and now he had to follow them here and spoil everything.  
"I'm sure someone won't mind sharing with me." Angelus said with a suggestive smile towards Buffy.  
Buffy could see that Liam was about to blow at his brother and she wanted to avoid all arguments today. "It's okay Liam, Angelus can stay in the attic and you can come and stay with me." Buffy said, "After all, I was a bit disappointed when you said I'd be sleeping on my own, last night was so nice, I could get used to it." Buffy said with a smile to Liam, trying to rub it in Angelus' face a bit more, he just didn't seem to be getting the message that she was with Liam, maybe now the message would get through to him and he'd stop making suggestive comments.  
Liam was slightly shocked at what Buffy actually had suggested but he wasn't going to argue with her if it meant he got to hold her whilst they fell asleep again.  
"I'll go move my things down to your room now and then we can go take a swim if you'd like. We still have a few hours before we need to get ready." he replied to her.  
Angelus could have choked at the sickening display in front of him, so his brother and Buffy had taken a step up in their relationship so early. Liam doesn't deserve Buffy, he thought to himself.  
"Are we going out for a meal tonight then?" asked Angelus, at least that would give him some time to spend with Buffy, even if it wasn't alone, he would like to get to know her a little better.  
"No, Buffy and I are going out for a meal. I'm not sure what the others have planned but you might want to ask if you can join them for dinner. See you later." Liam said as he headed upstairs after Buffy who was already in her room. Getting a towel to take down to the beach, Liam brought in his things and quickly put them away before they headed out together.  
The others were still on the beach playing volley ball but once they saw Buffy and Liam going into the water they quickly followed.  
"I take it that you've seen you're brother in the house then?" Jessica asked as they joined Liam and Buffy. Buffy was standing with her knees deep in the water but Liam had dived straight in and was splashing her and trying to get her to go in further. Doyle ran into the water with Cordy in his arms and threw her in; she came up screeching and tripped him up so he went under too.  
"Yeah, he's like a stray cat once you've fed them, they keep coming back and following you. I was hoping for one day of peace from him, I just hope he hurries up and gets his own place."  
"Catch!" Liam heard Buffy shout just before the beach ball hit him in the head, her laughter filled the air like a sweet song and he couldn't help the grin that appeared on his face.  
"You're going to pay for that." He said and ran to her, picking her up in his arms and running into the deeper water. The shock of the cold water made her gasp and he ducked them both under once he was deep enough.  
They all played with the beach ball for a while, ducking each other under and playing girls against boys. Buffy forgot all her worries and simply enjoyed herself, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun in ages and she thanked the lord for the life she was now living.

At 4pm Buffy walked in to their bedroom and began to place her clothes in the drawer that weren't being used by Liam. She hadn't unpacked earlier and so she took all of her things out and then placed her holdall under the bed. Liam entered the room soon with a drink for both of them whilst they were getting ready.  
"So, do you want to take a shower first?" asked Liam when she had finished putting away all her things.  
"No, you go ahead and I'll take one after, I don't want you to see me when I'm not completely ready to go out. Spoil the surprise, you know." She said and smiled. Liam grabbed a towel and headed for the bathroom whilst Buffy slipped out of her bathing suit and into one of his shirts which he had discarded earlier onto a chair, and then she lay down on the bed and switched on the TV.  
Ten minutes later Liam walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his lean hips. He looked stunning, rivulets of water were dripping down his chest from his wet hair and Buffy wanted so badly to lick them from his chest. She unconsciously licked her lips and Liam smirked in satisfaction as he saw the change in her body and the heat rise to her face.  
"Sorry, I thought that you had gone back downstairs, there just aren't any robes and I thought I'd change in here, didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." She was still staring at his body.  
Buffy got up from the bed and headed towards the bathroom slowing as she passed him on the way. "That's okay, I enjoyed the show and I'm not uncomfortable" she said and Liam grabbed her arm before she could walk off into the bathroom.  
"Tell that to the rose colour of your sweet cheeks and maybe I'll believe you." He replied laughing and Buffy smacked his ass before running into the bathroom and locking the door behind her.  
"I'll get you back you know, you can't hide in there forever." She could hear Liam shouting to her from the other side of the door. She was laughing so hard she got stitch and as she began running herself a bath she could hear Liam laughing in the bedroom too.

She took longer than usual in the bath; she wanted to make sure that she was squeaky clean for their date tonight. She was glad that they had the chance to spend some quality time together this weekend. It was great working with Liam but they rarely got time to be together as Buffy and Liam couple, they always seemed to be Angel and Beth couple and although it was great getting to kiss him and be with him all day long, she preferred to be able to have private moments instead of having an audience watching her every move. Between acting and rehearsing after hours they were lucky if they got to spend an hour a night just talking to each other about not work related things. They still had so much to learn about each other, but she was glad with the way things were going so far.  
On Wednesday Buffy had called home and spent an hour on the phone to Willow and then another half an hour talking to her mom and Rupert. It was lucky that Liam had said that she could spend as long as she liked on the phone but she still felt guilty. Willow had been really pleased for Buffy and had made her promise that both her and Tara could come and visit soon. She had told Willow about getting Darla's job, her wage increase and benefits she had been offered such as a new car. Buffy hadn't wanted to worry her parents or her friends about what had been going on with Darla so she had decided not to mention it and when she spoke to them on Friday afternoon she didn't tell them about the flowers either. She didn't feel that it was worth bothering them, it was just a bunch of flowers and other than that Kate said nothing else had been touched. She promised herself that if it went any further she would call and tell them but for the moment it was best they didn't know. Buffy tried to clear her mind as she soaked in the bath, the hot steamy water seemed to do the trick and she was filled with a sense of excitement wondering where Liam was planning on taking her.

Liam got dressed quickly and then went about trying to get everything ready; he had already made them reservations at the restaurant they were going to and even arranged a limo to collect them and then bring them back when they had finished their evening. He wanted to make sure that the night was perfect and so he called the restaurant again and asked them to make sure that a large centre piece of red roses was on their table, after the reassurance that it would be done he hung up and turned back towards the living room to go and see if Buffy was ready. Everyone else had decided to order some takeout food and then go out to a club, that way they would be in later than Buffy and Liam giving the couple some time alone in the house if they wanted. Angelus had decided to go with them although it was not for the reason the others were going, it was to get himself completely drunk and take his mind off Buffy. They all sat in the living room watching TV and eating slices of pizza. Earlier on Cordy and Jess had helped Liam with his bow tie, he had decided that being a special night he should make all the effort he could and had packed a tuxedo to wear. He had his hair styled into his usual trademark spikes and put on his best aftershave.  
When he reached the bottom of the stairs he stopped dead in his tracks. Buffy stood at the top of the stairs looking down at him, she looked like a vision and Liam couldn't bring himself to say anything as she slowly walked down the stairs towards him. The others were all sitting on the couch and when Liam had stopped dead in his tracks, his sentence cut off mid way, they all looked towards the stairs to see what he was doing and soon understood when Buffy appeared. She was wearing the white dress that she had brought on her shopping spree with Willow and Tara. Her hair was flowing down her back in large curls; she wore light makeup and a silver pair of earrings with small diamonds dangling from the end which sparkled in the light. She looked stunning and Cordy and Jess were so envious right then, none of them had ever seen Buffy dressed up like this and they were all speechless. She reached the bottom step and Liam took her hand in his and softly kissed it making all three girls sigh with appreciation.  
"You look amazing." He said smiling at her. He started to lead Buffy outside and the others got up to wave them off. After a few hugs and 'have a great time's' Liam and Buffy walked down the pathway to the limo. Buffy couldn't believe that he had hired a limo to take them out, he was so romantic. They got in and waved to the others until they were out of view and then she turned back to Liam.  
He couldn't stop looking at her, she had completely captivated him in the short time that they had known each other; he would give her his soul if she asked for it.  
"Liam, I want to thank you for everything, since moving here I've had a hard time, but you seemed to make everything all right again. I want you to know how much I appreciate you being with me and I'll never take you for granted." She said softly.  
"I know how you feel, Buffy. In the three years that I was with Darla I never once felt the way I do when I'm with you, and I don't ever want to loose that feeling. I have two gifts for you; I was going to give them to you later but..." Liam said pulling a small box and a larger one from his pocket. Buffy's eyes went wide when Liam opened the larger of the two boxes.  
"Liam…it's beautiful." She said reaching out and touching the necklace delicately. It was a silver chain attached to which were a row of three diamonds on either side of a large ruby.  
"There are seven stones altogether because that's how many days I've known you for and the ruby is the birthstone for July, the month we first met." Liam said unclasping the necklace and placing it around her neck.  
"Liam that's so thoughtful, but you didn't need to go and do this, it must have been expensive." She said fingering the delicate piece of jewellery that lay around her neck.  
"It doesn't matter to me how much it costs, what matters is how we both feel and I feel good about showing you my affections in this way. I want to spoil you Buffy, I want to shower you with gifts and see the way your eyes light up when you open them. I had this necklace specially made for you, and you look beautiful in it." He said and then picked up the second box and opening it for her.  
"It's a claddagh ring; it was exchanged between two people in Ireland as a token of their loyalty and love. The hands represent friendship, the crown for loyalty and the heart…for love. When you wear it with the heart pointing towards you it means that you belong to someone. I want you to wear it with the heart pointing in so that everyone who sees it knows that you belong to someone…to me." Liam finished, Buffy was in tears as she nodded and Liam slipped the ring on to her finger, and then placed a soft kiss to where it rested so perfectly. He wiped the tears from her face with the pads of his thumb and she smiled to him fingering her new ring.  
"I have nothing to give to you." Buffy said after a few minutes.  
"You've already given me the most precious gift you could Buffy, you're friendship and hope of a future with you." Liam replied and he took her face between his hands and placed featherlike kisses along her cheeks and collarbone.  
The limo pulled up outside the restaurant interrupting the sensual moment between the two lovers, the doors were opened for them and Liam helped Buffy out. He had taken her to the most expensive restaurant he could find and there were a few photographers from the media outside that took pictures of them entering; obviously someone had let it slip that they would be dining there. They were shown to a table and given menus whilst the waiter retrieved them a bottle of champagne and two glasses. Buffy and Liam went through course by course feeding each and sharing kisses and gentle caresses along the way. They took their time to get to know each other better and find out what their interests were. When they had finished their meal Buffy requested that the limo dropped them off at the beach a little way from the house, she told Liam that the perfect end for a perfect night would be to take a walk along the beach in the moonlight. Liam couldn't deny her anything and so he told the limo driver where to stop for them and he helped her out of the car. They both took off their shoes and walked along the beach hand in hand back to the beach house.  
It was getting late and the night air chilled Buffy's skin making her shiver, Liam wrapped his arms around her offering her what little warmth he could. They stood like that for nearly and hour, just enjoying each others company quietly like they had done earlier that day at the lighthouse. Buffy turned in Liam's embrace and pulled his face down to gently touch her lips to his. The kiss grew and grew and Liam lowered Buffy's body down to the soft cool sand and followed her down. He lay above her, blanketing her body with his as he rained kisses over her face and neck.  
Buffy was in heaven, she never wanted Liam to stop what he was doing and she made a slight moan of protest as his lips stopped their caresses and he looked down at her.  
"We need to…stop; you're not ready yet and..." Liam was cut off by Buffy's finger pressing gently against his lips.  
"I'm ready, I need you Liam, make love to me." She said, and pulled him back down to her.  
He pulled back once more, "Buffy we should go inside, you deserve to be made love to in a bed, not on the beach." He said and made a move to get up but she held him down tightly to her body.  
"Please Liam, I need you now." She said with so much passion in her eyes that Liam couldn't resist any longer.  
He slowly lifted Buffy's dress up over her head and was graced with her almost naked form beneath him. She now wore only a scrap of silk covering her most intimate part which he soon disposed off. He took a moment to look down at her, she was even more beautiful than he had imagined, her skin practically glowed with radiance and he couldn't help but scoop down to taste her. Buffy made quick work of his shirt and pants and soon they were both lying naked on the cool sand. She wrapped her legs around his waist inviting him further when she felt the tip of his manhood pressing against her thigh, it was torture and she needed him inside her now, Liam entered her as slowly as possible to savour the moment. When he was fully seated he remained still to allow her to adjust, soon it was more than either of them could bare and they started a slow pace moving together. It had been a long time since Buffy had been intimate with someone and she was so tight that she thought she was going to split when he entered her. She hadn't exactly seen him naked but by the feel of him he was well endowed. She had been more than ready for him, her channel slick with the evidence of her desire. Liam slowly built them both up and as he felt her inner walls quiver signalling the approach of her climax he let himself go and they both exploded in ecstasy together. They were both panting as Liam rolled over on to his back pulling Buffy with him so that they had swapped positions and she was now on top of him.  
"I love you." Buffy whispered as she drifted off, feeling safe and secure in Liam's arms.  
"I love you too." He said his heart soaring with her announcement as he closed his eyes for just a second.

"Hey!" Shouted Cordy "Gross, gross, gross. Come on children, wake up!" she shouted with one hand over her eyes and the other was holding out two towels.  
"Cordy?" mumbled Buffy sleepily; she couldn't understand why Cordelia was shouting at her to wake up. The events of last night slowly came back to her and she was suddenly aware that she and Liam were lying extremely naked on the beach for everyone to see. Liam stirred under Buffy and tightened his arms around her.  
"Just ten more minutes Buffy." He mumbled, Buffy giggled and whispered in his ear.  
"That would be nice if we were in bed honey but we're naked on the beach with an audience." Liam's eyes immediately snapped open and he saw Cordy standing above them holding out towels. Buffy grabbed the towels and they wrapped themselves up and picked up their clothes.  
"We're decent now Cordy." Buffy told her as they started to head up to the others who were waiting on the porch of the beach house for them.  
Cordy caught up with them, "You two are like school kids, I can't believe you did that! You do realise I'm scarred for life; I'll forever have nightmares of naked Buffy and Liam! I think I'm gonna be sick. Oh my god, where did you get that necklace from? It's gorgeous." She said and stopped Buffy to look at her necklace. "You are so lucky." Cordy stated.  
"I know I am." Buffy replied and smiled at Liam who then took her hand.  
When they reached the deck and looked at the others who had all gathered there and who all had huge smiles on their faces, Buffy couldn't help but smile back.  
"Angelus caught you two this morning when he got up and we all drew straws to see who would go down and wake you." Jess said.  
"Yeah, no need to say I got the short straw! I tell you, it's a good job this is a private beach!" Cordy exclaimed and went and buried her head in Doyle's chest.  
"Where is Angelus?" asked Liam, he was the only one that wasn't present.  
"He said something about having to get back early; he left just after he found you." Said Gunn as they all went back inside the house.  
"Right, we'll go shower and then we'll head back. We won't be long." Liam said as he and Buffy headed upstairs to get ready.  
The others all sat down on the couch and waited for them to go into their bedroom.  
"Their gonna end up having sex again aren't they?" said Gunn  
"Oh yeah." Said Cordy  
"They'll be a while." Doyle said.  
"Let's go for a walk." Suggested Jess.  
They all jumped up from the couch and practically ran from the house.

When Buffy and Liam emerged from their room nearly an hour later the gang were waiting for them on the porch, everyone's bags were packed and they were ready to go. Buffy had suggested it would be quicker if they took a shower together, which didn't work out though as passions rose and they spent longer together than they would have if they had both taken bath's separately.  
Everyone got onto the boat and Liam sped them back to the docks to collect their cars and head for work. When they got to the docks it was 10:30 and they had plenty of time before having to be at work. Buffy asked Liam to drop her off at home so that she could take her dirty clothes and put them in the washer and get some clean ones. She also needed to call her parents, when she had last spoken to them her parents had suggested Buffy take Liam to meet with them the next weekend. She hadn't managed to get up the nerve to ask Liam yet but she decided that she would do it tonight after work.  
Liam didn't want to leave Buffy alone at the house but she assured him that she would be fine; Kate had installed a camera in the hallway after they last spoke, Buffy had given her the spare key and since they hadn't heard anything it was obvious that no one had been seen at her house. Buffy had been a little disappointed that she had only spent one night there, it was such a waste. She made a mental note to ask Kate if it was alright to move back home, maybe Liam could stay for a few nights just to make sure it was safe.  
Liam dropped her off at her house and they noticed the breakdown company had finally returned her car. She told Liam that she would meet him at work to save him driving all the way back to pick her up. They kissed goodbye and Buffy waved him off and then went in.  
She walked inside and took off her shoes; placing her bag of dirty clothing on the floor by the washer and walking back through to the kitchen to grab a piece of fruit for breakfast. Before going in the living room she stopped by the mirror in the hall to admire the necklace that Liam had given her. It was truly beautiful and as Cordy had said on the boat trip home 'it must have cost Liam a fortune'. Cordy kept trying to get Liam to tell her how much it cost but he wasn't budging. He just kept telling her that it didn't matter how much it cost as long as Buffy liked it. She went into the living room with a smile on her face, taking her first bite from the peach she saw someone from the corner of her eye sitting on her sofa. She stopped dead in her tracks and her whole body tensed, she still didn't relax any when she realised who it was.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Missing

Author: Neamh1

Disclaimer: Not mine

Warnings: NC17

Feedback: Thanks for all the great feedback, you've all ben really gernerous, please keep it coming!

"Liam, where's Buffy, she's ten minutes late? Have you tried calling her house to see where she is?" Terry asked Liam as he paced back and fourth for the fiftieth time since 12:00pm. Buffy was the only one who had not shown up yet, Liam had tried to call her at home but the dial tone said that the line was engaged. That was at 11:45 when he arrived, he had tried her two minutes ago from his cell and still the line was busy. It wasn't like Buffy not to turn up on time, every morning that they had been here last week she had always been ready before him.  
"Terry, the line's still busy. Here, this is my cell phone number, I'm going to drive over there and see what she's doing. If you hear from her before I get there call me and let me know. I'll be as fast as I can." Liam said and ran out of the building. Terry started to brief everyone on the shooting schedule, he could always fill Buffy and Liam in on it later.

Liam sped along the highway, if there had been any police about he would have been pulled over for speeding, luckily for him there weren't. By the time he arrived at Buffy's he still hadn't been able to get a hold of her. Buffy's car was still in the driveway so Liam left his on the street and ran up to the front door, it wasn't locked and so he went in calling out for her. When he got no reply he went into the living room to see if she was on the phone.

He'd never felt so scared for someone else the way he did right then for Buffy. The room was in total disarray, the coffee table had been tipped up, and the phone was on the floor off the hook which explained the busy tone. It looked like there had been a struggle, Liam quickly ran through the house checking all the rooms to see if Buffy was still there. He then checked the back garden and when he found nothing he called Kate and told her.

It wasn't long before Kate was sitting outside Buffy's house taking a statement from Liam. He was devastated, Kate had never seen him in such a state, he was on the verge of either breaking down or going mad and rushing off to look everywhere for Buffy. There were several police officers inside looking through the house for evidence, the security camera's had been checked as well but it seemed that they hadn't picked anything up. Whoever had broken in and taken Buffy had entered from the back and not gone upstairs or through the hallway. After finishing Liam's statement Kate told Liam she would take him home, he was in no fit state to drive and she suggested that he phoned in work and told them he wouldn't be in for the next couple of days. When they arrived at his house Angelus' car was parked up so Kate went in and spoke with him whilst Liam called in work.

When Kate had finished speaking with Angelus and getting his alibi she went to see how Liam was before she left.  
"You're staying at home right?" Kate asked as she sat down next to Liam on the sofa.  
"What else can I do?" he asked feeling completely useless.  
"This is what you can do, if he wants anything in return for her safety he's going to call either you or her family. You need to be here in case he calls, here…this is my cell phone number, if I hear anything I'll call you, I promise." Kate handed him the card and then got up and left leaving Liam to his thoughts.

Liam sat by the phone for hours on end, every now and again Angelus would come and check on him to see how he was.  
"Liam, I'm sorry about Buffy, I know you two were getting close and it must be hard for you. If it's any consolation I'm sure she'll be fine, she's a fighter, remember the way she tore Darla in two with a few words. She'll make it through this, don't worry." Angelus gave his brother few reassuring words. When Kate had come and told him about Buffy's disappearance he had been completely shocked, after that the anger took over and he asked Kate if there was anything that he could do to help with the search. Kate had told him that the best thing he could do right now was to stay at home with Liam and make sure that he was okay. She was worried about him, he was in a complete state over Buffy's disappearance and she feared what might happen if they couldn't find Buffy or if something happened to her. Angelus agreed to take care of his brother, Kate told Angelus that she would have a couple of officers staying around the grounds in case the kidnapper called or showed up.

At about 6pm Liam heard Angelus leave the house and drive off, he didn't care though and just continued to stare at the wall waiting for the phone to ring, it never did.

Angelus returned late that night to find his brother still sitting on the sofa where he had left him a few hours ago, he felt bad for him; he could imagine what he was going through.  
"Liam, I was just wondering…have you called Buffy's parents to let them know what's been going on?" Angelus asked his brother. This seemed to snap Liam out of the trance he'd been in.  
"No, I completely forgot, I told Kate on the way home that I'd call them." Liam said and reached for the phone. Angelus went up to his room to give his brother some privacy whilst he spoke to Buffy's parents. No doubt they would come here and stay with Liam whilst the police searched for Buffy. He decided to get a good nights sleep and went to bed early, he didn't really fancy sitting up all night with Liam in silence. If Buffy had been taken away from Angelus he wouldn't be sitting around moping all day, he'd be out looking for her in every place he could think of. Sometimes his brother was so pathetic, he thought to himself before he drifted off to sleep.

6am and Angelus walked downstairs with a holdall in his hands and stopped by the living room door. Liam was lying on the sofa fast asleep with the cordless phone clutched tightly in his hands, shaking his head at his brother Angelus quietly left the house and climbed into his car speeding down the driveway.

7am and Liam was woken by the sound of the telephone, he quickly jumped up and answered, sitting back down slowly when he heard Kate's voice.  
"Liam we have some news, one of the neighbours came forward this morning to speak to us and it seems that the kidnapper might not have been as careful as he thought. One of the neighbours saw a young man walking through Buffy's living room yesterday early in the morning, she didn't think anything of it because she recognised him and had seen him there before with Buffy... We also found a phone book that had been knocked under the sofa when the struggle happened. We looked through it and there was a page which had large messed up writing on it, it took a while to understand what was written but it said 'HELP' and there was a letter after it, we think it was the letter 'A'.

All the pieces started to fall into place for Liam, he left the beach house early that morning, the neighbours recognised the man because he was Liam's identical, he knew about the camera and where Buffy lived. Oh god, he practically made it an easy job for Angelus.  
"Where is he?" asked Kate after a few moments of silence giving Liam time to process the information.  
"Upstairs, hold on." Said Liam panicking, running up the stairs calling out for his brother Liam found no trace of him. Angelus' door was open and Liam noticed that a few of his clothes were missing. Angelus could be anywhere by now. If they managed to leave the country there would be no way of finding them.  
"He's not here, and some of his clothes are missing." Liam said as he ran through Angelus' bedroom, going through his drawers and the trash bin by his desk. "Kate, there's a wallet here which looks like it had tickets in it. He's at the airport, oh god!" Liam said when he realised that he might have lost Buffy already.  
"Liam, I'll meet you at the airport straightaway. I'll inform the security there and get some traces done to see if they've checked in with their real names. Meet me at the main check-in desk." Kate said and then hung up to let Liam get on his way. She immediately got back on her cell and called the airport explaining the situation and getting searches done for passengers travelling within the hour and planes that had already left that morning.

By the time Liam got there Kate had not long arrived, she was speaking with some other officers at the check-in desk when Liam approached her.  
"Angelus must have fake passports so we don't know which flight they are on or even if they have already left. I've managed to buy us some time and delayed all the flights that were about to take off. We need to discreetly do a search of the airport to see if they are here, I have officers at the door in case they try to leave. I need you to stay out of sight Liam, if Angelus spots you then the game's up. Just do me a favour and wait here, here this is a radio connected to mine, when and if we find them I'll radio you and let you know where we are okay?" Kate said and when Liam started to protest she simply put a hand up in the air and said "Stay!" then she hurried off to help with the search.

Ten minutes later and Liam still hadn't heard from Kate, he couldn't stand it any longer; he had to do something so he went to help look for Buffy.

He went from one area to the next, there were just so many people to search through he nearly gave up and went back to wait for Kate when he saw Buffy sitting amongst a lot of people on the waiting chairs. The first thing he had noticed was the necklace that he had given her; it sparkled out against her top and instantly drew his attention to her. Liam hid behind a wall and attempted to radio Kate to let her know where he was.  
"Kate, I have them. Are you there?" he spoke into the radio  
"Yeah I see you, I'm to your left, where are they?" she asked  
"On the chairs on the other side of this wall." Liam replied and leaned back around the wall to check that they hadn't moved. He could still see Buffy but now Angelus was standing in front of her pulling her up from her seat by her arm. "They're on the move Kate." Liam said, but as Buffy and Angelus turned to move away from the waiting area Angelus' eyes met with Liam's and he grabbed Buffy moving as fast as possible towards the crowd of people trying to board a flight hoping that he could lose his brother. "Shit! He's seen me Kate." Liam shouted into the radio and ran out from behind the wall in an attempt to follow them.  
"Freeze! Don't take another step!" Liam heard Kate shout and Angelus instantly stopped swinging Buffy around in front of him as a shield. He then pulled out a knife from a pocket in his coat and held it to her throat.  
"Don't make me do it Kate. Stay the hell away from us, I don't want to hurt her!" shouted Angelus.

A thousand thoughts were going through Buffy's mind, joy at seeing Liam again, terror at the thought of the blade that was pressed up against her throat and understanding as she saw a number of police officers and security staff approaching the scene and moving the now terrified bystanders out of the area.  
"Angelus, put the knife down, you know you're going to hurt her." Liam tried reasoning with his brother but to no avail.  
"Shut up! You don't get to do that anymore Liam!" Angelus spat out. "I've had it with you, you call yourself family? You don't give a shit about me, I may not have your job or your home, but I have something better than all that, I have the woman you love. She's mine now and she loves me, we're going to go away and be happy, don't worry, I'll send you pictures of the kids when they're born, it's the least I could do." Angelus shouted. By this time tears were streaming down Buffy's cheeks and keeping one eye on Liam, Angelus leant down and kissed the tear trail from Buffy's face making her cry harder.  
"Angelus, let Buffy go and we'll go to the station and speak about this." Kate said trying to diffuse the situation between the brothers; she could see that Liam was ready to rip out his brother's throat.  
"Well thanks Kate but that's not on my schedule, I'm real busy, but I'll call you." He replied in a sarcastic voice.  
"Your not leaving with her, I won't allow it." Liam said drawing Angelus' attention back to him.  
"What are you going to do about it brother." He spat the last word out. Liam's attention flicked for a second to the officer who was attempting to approach them from behind. The quick look was enough to alert Angelus and as he turned slightly to see how close the officer was, he was stabbed in the leg with something by Buffy, the pain shot through his leg and his grip loosened on her. Buffy took the opportunity and elbowed Angelus in the chest then made a run to Liam.

She dived into his arms and they fell to the floor together, the police officers made a run for Angelus, Buffy and Liam turned when they heard Kate scream for everyone to stop…but it was too late. Buffy and Liam watched as Angelus' body dropped to the floor.

Angelus felt the pain hit him as he saw Buffy and Liam drop to the floor together, Liam raining kisses over Buffy's face and checking that she was alright. He would have never hurt her, in his own way he loved her, all he wanted was to be truly happy for a change and he thought that being with her would do that. He knew now that there was no chance of it, he had fooled himself into believing that given enough time she might come to love him back. There was nothing left for him now except prison, and he couldn't live like that again. Angelus brought the knife up to his throat and in one swift movement he ended his life, the last thing he saw was a solitary tear run down Buffy's cheek, and he hoped that the tear was for him.

"Get an ambulance now!" shouted Kate as she rushed to Angelus' body.  
Buffy was shaking in Liam's arms; she couldn't take her eyes off Angelus. He had been good to her; he hadn't hurt her except for knocking her out at her house, and he had made sure that she had everything she needed.

"Buffy? Buffy?" she felt someone shake her and she looked up to see Liam's worried face. They were still at the airport, ambulance staff were attending to Angelus' body and Kate had come to approach them. She didn't know how long she had zoned out for but with everything that had happened she didn't really care as long as she was back in Liam's arms.  
"Liam, why don't you take her home, I'll come by later to speak with you both. Larry here is going to drive you, just tell him where your car is and he'll go and get it then pick you up outside. I'll see you later, and I'm sorry." Kate said and then left them in Larry's capable hands as she went off to speak with her chief inspector.

Buffy and Liam waited outside for Larry and when he arrived they climbed in the back together, Liam holding Buffy tight never wanting to be more than an inch from her side again. He had come so close to losing her today, he didn't even want to think what his brother's motives had been and where he would have taken Buffy. If he hadn't spotted them when he did Buffy would be on a plane now to God knows where and he would have never seen her again. The thought made his stomach turn and he turned his attention back to Buffy who was silently crying in his arms. Liam gave Larry instructions of how to get to his house but Buffy started protesting saying something about assassins.

"Buffy, its okay, calm down. I've had police officers patrolling my grounds ever since you disappeared, there's no way there could have been someone there, the police would have seen them and arrested them." Liam tried to assure her. Larry got on his radio and spoke with the officers that were at Liam's house; they did a thorough check of the grounds but hadn't found anyone by the time they arrived there. Buffy had fallen asleep on the way so Liam gently lifted her and carried her up the stairs to his room and tucked her in the large bed. Larry had offered to do a sweep of the house and then said that he would let himself out. Liam lay down on the bed next to Buffy and softly stroked her cheek, careful not to wake her. It wasn't long before he drifted off himself, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist and she snuggled closer to him seeking comfort in the depth of her dreams.

Liam was the first to wake up and after watching Buffy for some time he decided to go and make her something to eat; he had no idea if Angelus had taken care of her since he took her. Liam busied himself in the kitchen making soup for them both, he cut some bread up and put it all on a tray. He had intended on taking it up to Buffy but when he turned around to get the spoons she was sitting at the dinning table behind him, he jumped out of his skin which gained him a small smile from her.  
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I just didn't want to be alone." She said and Liam got the spoons and put her soup in front of her, then came and sat next to her with his soup and the plate of bread.  
"I didn't know whether you had eaten or not so I made you some soup." He said and watched as she took a taste.  
"It's great thank you. I haven't had anything for breakfast yet but I did get something to eat for lunch and for dinner yesterday." Buffy replied and took another spoonful.  
"Well, it's nearly 5pm now so you've technically missed lunch as well. I'll make us a snack later, just make sure you eat all your soup." He said, they heard the door bell ring and Liam got up to answer the door, Buffy lingered behind him until she saw that it was Kate at the door. Kate was not alone, she was accompanied by Buffy's parents and they all embraced before heading back to the kitchen so that Buffy and Liam could finish their meal. Everyone took a seat at the table and Kate waited until they had finished eating to ask Buffy if she was okay to give a statement.  
They all went into the living room and it was not lost on either of Buffy's parents how she snuggled up in Liam's arms on the sofa.  
"Kate, I'm only telling this once so make sure you get all the details. After this day I won't ever speak of it again, it hurts too much." Buffy told Kate and she nodded her understanding. For the next half an hour everyone was completely quiet listening to Buffy relay her story from the moment that Liam dropped her off at home to the moment she fell into Liam's arms at the airport.

/She had been scared at first when she had seen him sitting on her sofa; she couldn't understand what he was doing there.  
"What do you want, and how did you get in here?" she asked him, staying as far away as she could without bolting through the door.  
Angelus held a key up to her, "Did you like the flowers?" he asked with a smirk. He had gone to the studio one day and to Wesley's assistant telling him that he need the spare key to Buffy's house, he said she had lost her other one and; pretending to be Liam he had said she was waiting for him downstairs. Jonathon had happily given him the key and Angelus had left without having any problems.  
"It was you, all this time…I trusted you enough to stay in the same house as you and all this time it was you taking my things and breaking into my home. You swore that it wasn't you; you acted so hurt that we thought it might have been. You sick bastard." She said to him, she refused to let him see how scared she really was by his presence.  
"Don't you dare talk to me that way!" Angelus shouted, and then he tried to compose himself again and stood from the sofa. "Don't worry Buffy, I'm not sick and I'm certainly not a bastard. I'm just a man in love." Angelus took a step towards her and Buffy took a step back bumping into the table holding the phone and her address book. Thinking quickly she moved one arm discreetly behind her back searching for the pencil she knew she had left with her address book. She began trying to scribble something down in her address book but Angelus began to move forward, Buffy shoved the pencil into the pocket of her long denim skirt and picked up the phone. She didn't even have to chance to dial a number before Angelus reached her knocking the table over and grabbing her by the arm. She kicked him in the shin and made a run past him for the front door. Angelus charged after her knocking the coffee table over in the process, the next thing Buffy felt was a sharp pain to the back of her head. Her body fell limp to the floor instantly, Angelus didn't bother to tidy things away, he knew that they would know something was wrong when Buffy didn't turn up for work so he quickly carried her through the back garden and to his car that was waiting in the street behind Buffy's house. He opened the back door and placed Buffy into the back seat, securing her arms behind her back with some plastic holds. He then got in and drove to the crypt where he would be keeping her until the flight tomorrow.

The crypt was in one of the smaller graveyards just outside L.A. It rarely had lots of visitors and even if there were they wouldn't be able to hear Buffy's screams. He got her out of the car outside the crypt and quickly carried her in unlocking the metal gate that lead through an underground tunnel to the room where he would be holding her.

When Buffy awoke she had a throbbing headache, she could feel cold metal cuffs around her wrists and when she moved her arms to sit up they made a rattling noise as the chains moved along with her. She was lying on some cushions on the floor in what looked like an underground building, the only light came from a couple of lanterns that were placed out of her reach. She noticed that at her side was sitting a bottle of water, a package containing a salad sandwich and some fruit. She heard footsteps approach and she looked up to see Liam walk through a door, a smile lit her face and he smiled back. Buffy's face instantly dropped when she realised it wasn't Liam but Angelus.  
"No need to be like that Buffy, I'm sorry about hitting you but it was necessary to get you here, you weren't very well going to come of your own accord were you?" Angelus approached her and passed her a thick fur blanket and two tablets. "They're for the headache I imagine you have." She gave him a sceptical look wondering whether there was something more in the tablets. "I promise, they're only aspirin." When Buffy picked up the water and swallowed the tablets Angelus continued "I've left you some food for lunch, I'll bring you a takeout for dinner, I will be back later on tonight. The blanket is to keep you warm; it gets really cold in here at night, I'd like to keep you warm myself but then it would raise questions as to where I was." He looked at his watch "I'd better get going, by now they will have figured out something is wrong, I need to be at the house when Liam comes home. And Buffy, don't waste your breath shouting for help, you're in an underground crypt in a graveyard, no one will be around even if they could here you through the ceiling." With those last words he walked out leaving Buffy alone, she tried shouting him back and asking why he was doing this but she got no reply.

Angelus came back later that night as promised with takeout food, he had brought them both Chinese food and although Buffy didn't want to rely on him for anything she had no choice. They sat in silence eating together, when they finished their food Angelus stood up and started to pick up all the rubbish.  
"You're going to leave me here again aren't you?" she asked him as he busied himself with the food wrappers.  
"I have to go back otherwise they'll get suspicious that I've been out all night. Kate's already been to take my alibi; I did some damn good acting if I do say so myself, must run in the family eh? I hadn't long gotten home after they arrived, I actually feel sorry for Liam, you should see the state he's in." Angelus told her, making it sound as though he cared.  
Buffy was fuming, "You aren't capable of feeling sorry for someone, you wouldn't have done this if you cared at all about him. You're supposed to be his brother and this is what you do for him after he took you back into his home!" she shouted at him.  
Her words struck Angelus harder than she thought, she thought that it was all about hurting Liam, it wasn't. "I didn't do this just to hurt him; I did it to stop my pain too." When she looked at him not understanding he moved closer to her but still keeping out of reach in case she decided to attack him.  
"Don't you get it Buffy, I love you. I can't get you out of my head and it's killing me seeing you with him. I think that given some time away from each other you'll both adjust to being separated, you'll be with me and he'll be with who ever. You'll find a place for me in your heart, given time granted, and we'll be happy, you'll be mine." He said reaching out and brushing her cheek with the back of his hand.  
"I'll never be yours" she spat out and pulled away from his touch. Angelus was in no mood to argue with her. He simply stood up, grabbed the rubbish and walked away from her. He could hear shouting him to come back, calling him a bastard and everything under the sun but he didn't care. She would love him, even if he had to chain her up every day for the rest of his life just to be close to her he would.

When Angelus returned in the morning Buffy was still fast asleep, he took some time to watch her sleep peacefully and was disappointed when time ran away with him and he had to wake her. She came around groggily when he gently shook her by the arm.  
"Buffy, we're leaving now, we're going to the airport and I need you to behave. I didn't want to have to do something like this but to make sure that you don't draw any attention to us it's necessary. I have two of my men waiting outside Liam's house for my word, if you draw any attention to us then all I have do is call them from my cell and they'll kill him, I'm not bluffing Buffy, so don't test me." He slowly stood up and unclasped the manacles from her wrists checking that they hadn't done any damage. Handing her a bag she looked inside and saw that he had taken a set of clothes from the things that she had left at Liam's house. "Put them on, Liam will have told the cops what you were wearing so you need to look different, and tie your hair back with this too. When we get to London I'll buy you whatever clothes you want, I didn't want to have to worry about lugging around suitcases." He handed her a clip and she finger combed her hair back into it. Buffy stood expectantly waiting for Angelus to leave the room so that she could change. She knew that there was no point fighting him at this moment for her freedom, she didn't even know where she was and if he was telling the truth she couldn't put Liam's life at risk.

"I'm not changing in front of you Angelus. I may be your prisoner but I'm not your whore." She said and Angelus walked quickly out of the room closing the door behind him. A few minutes later Buffy knocked on her side of the door and Angelus opened it to reveal her wearing the clothes he had brought for her. She was wearing a black knee length pencil skirt and a blue, black and white sixties style top that dropped off her left shoulder exposing her perfectly tanned skin. She looked stunning and Angelus wanted nothing more than to shove her against the wall and fuck her hard and fast. He remained in control though and took Buffy' hand to lead her from the crypt, she resisted at first and tried to pull her hand away but when she realised that he wouldn't let go she just let her hand go limp in his. Angelus noticed that Buffy was still wearing the necklace that she had on from last night.  
"Take that necklace off Buffy." He said and stopped letting go of her hand so that she could take it off.  
"No." she said and Angelus didn't look happy. She saw him move his hand towards it to rip it off but she clutched the necklace and wouldn't let go. "Liam gave this to me Angelus, you're taking me away from him, please just let me have something to hold on to. I'm not going to fight you but please, just let me keep it?" she pleaded with him and Angelus relented.  
"Okay, but tuck it inside your top. That thing is extremely noticeable." He said and took Buffy's hand again walking to the car with her whilst she tucked the necklace in like he had asked.

When they reached the outside of the crypt it took a few minutes for Buffy's eyes to adjust to the light, when they did she still had no idea where she was. When they reached the car Angelus let go of her so that she could get in, as soon as his hand left hers she made a run for it. She half expected to feel Angelus grab her from behind but when she turned to see where he was he was still standing at the car dialling a number into his cell. Buffy stopped abruptly "Should I press the dial button Buffy?" he asked in a normal voice as though he wasn't threatening her with Liam's life. Reluctantly she returned to him and climbed in the car. He could see tears in her eyes but she turned away from him and simply stared out of the window. The drive to the airport was made in complete silence until Buffy saw the airport signs and panicked.  
"How did you know that I'd be at home?" she asked him, she hadn't seen him that morning at the beach house, he had already left when they came up from the beach.  
"Well, you hadn't been home in a few days and I checked your clothes supply at Liam's, I saw you only had a few things left and so I knew you'd make a quick stop there before heading to work. It was really sheer luck that you told Liam to go, if he'd have come in and waited for you I might not have had chance to take you and wouldn't be here with you right now." Angelus said and Buffy wished that she could turn back time.  
"I wasn't coping well with you two getting so close and after yesterday morning when I woke up and saw you lying naked in his arms I snapped. It should have been me holding you, not him. Anyway, I had to leave and I ended up at your house, I had been planning it since Saturday and managed to get some last minute tickets. We're lucky you know, they are first class." Angelus said.  
"Lucky me." she replied sarcastically and turned away from him to look out of the window as a plane took off from the run way.

They pulled up in the airport car park and Angelus parked the car up, they both got out and Buffy waited at the side of the car for him. He got out the suitcase he had packed for the both of them and took her hand leading her into the airport, when they arrived at the desk Buffy wondered where he had found her passport until the lady wished them; Mr and Mrs Henley, a safe journey. Angelus led her around the airport and they left the holdall to be boarded whilst they went to find seats to wait. They had been told that the plane would be boarding in little over half an hour and was right on time. Buffy sat twiddling her thumbs in her seat next to Angelus, she didn't know how much time had gone by but she remembered feeling panic when a flight boarding was announced and Angelus got up and told her that was their flight. She stood up and they headed for their gate…/

"So, the pencil you…was what you wrote the note with in your address book?" Kate asked and Buffy simply nodded.  
"When he left here last night to go out for a few hours he was going to Buffy." Liam said in understanding as all the pieces started to fit together.  
"The only thing left now is for us to check out that crypt and then we can close the case. There is one more thing though, Liam I think maybe I should speak with you alone, it's about Angelus." Kate said, but Liam shook his head.  
"Anything you have to say about him you can say in front of me too." Buffy knew that Liam would only tell her anyway, she had a right to know and there was no point in messing around with private conversation.  
"Okay…Angelus…isn't, that is, he didn't pass away, the paramedics managed to save him. He's at the general hospital at the moment; he lost a severe amount of blood and had the paramedics not be there straight away the cut would have been fatal. What I'm trying to say is…he's in a coma. The doctors have said that they don't know how long if at all he'll wake up, they have contacted your father and he's agreed to pay the medical costs to keep Angelus at the hospital. I didn't know whether or not you'd want to…but I took the liberty of getting his room number for you…just in case." Kate passed a folded piece of paper to Liam.  
"Thank you Kate. For everything." He said.  
"I'm gonna get going now, paper work to get done, you know the drill." She smiled and when Liam began to get up she stopped him. "Don't worry about it, I can see myself out. Look after her, I'll see you later Buffy." Kate said and left the two and Buffy's parents alone.  
"Honey I'm so sorry. How are you holding up?" Joyce asked her daughter.  
"I'm fine, thank you for coming, did Kate call you?" Buffy asked wondering what would have gone through their minds after having a call from a police officer.  
"Actually I called them. Kate gave me the number; I thought it would be better coming from me." Liam said and Rupert leaned forward to shake hands with him. Joyce smiled at Liam and Rupert; she had thought that Rupert would have been awkward with Liam as Buffy hadn't had a boyfriend in some time. But the men seemed to be getting along fine which seemed to please both Joyce and Buffy.  
"We came by earlier but there was no one here and we spoke to one of the officers, they told us about the search and told us that we should go and wait at the station until they had any news. When Kate arrived a little while ago she told us that you were safe and told us that she was coming to see you so we followed her here in our car. Are you sure you're alright honey?" Joyce asked her daughter, she was so relieved that Buffy was safe and unharmed that she cried in the car all the way to Liam's house.  
"I am, but can we please go out somewhere?" Buffy asked and got curious glances from everyone. "I've been locked in a room underground for a full day; I want to go out for dinner. Please?" she asked Liam, her mom and Rupert. They all agreed to go out after they had freshened up and changed, Joyce told them that they were staying in a hotel not far away but Liam would have none of it and insisted that they stay with them and he showed them to one of the guest rooms. He then led Buffy back to his room and got her a fluffy white bathrobe and ran her a bath, she relaxed for a while in the heated scented water, relishing in how good it felt to be able to get clean after sleeping in the dank hole all night. She had only been away from Liam for a day and she had missed him so much, it was strange how when you realise how much you love a person when you're about to loose them. She got changed into a light blue knee length dress whilst Liam showered and changed into a simple black suit with a white shirt.

They all met downstairs forty minutes later and Liam drove them to one of the many Italian restaurants in L.A.

Buffy was glad to be out and started to feel more like herself surrounded by the people she cared about most in the world. The majority of conversation during dinner centered around Joyce and Rupert getting to know Liam better. They asked him questions about his family and childhood, about his hobbies and how long he had been in the acting industry. Everything ran smoothly and Buffy was so pleased that Rupert wasn't making any fatherly comments to Liam. During their dessert Liam asked Buffy's parents for their permission to take Buffy away to Sweden the next chance they got for a holiday. She couldn't believe how sweet he was, asking for permission. At the end of the night Liam drove everyone back to his house. They said good night and Buffy's parents retired to their room saying that they were tired from the journey and they would speak more tomorrow with Buffy. Buffy and Liam headed to the kitchen and Liam got them both a glass of wine and then he joined her at the dinning table.  
"I propose a toast." He said with a half smile.  
"To what?" Buffy asked.  
"To us. To having you back safe and sound in my life, and to never losing you again." He said and they clinked their glasses both looking at the other whilst they sipped from their crystal flutes.  
"Can I move in to your room? Just until I move back home?" Buffy asked hoping that Liam wouldn't deny her. She didn't really feel like going back to her house yet and she just wanted to know that there was someone there with her. She knew that she was going to have nightmares about what had happened and she needed the support that he could offer her.  
"I have a better idea, why don't you move in with me, permanently, I don't want to spend another night without you falling asleep in my arms." Liam suggested, the shock was written all over her face but it was quickly replaced by joy and she moved into his lap kissing him. "Is that a yes then?" he asked and she laughed nodding her head. Liam stood up with Buffy in his arms and carried her back to their bedroom. Lowering her down on to the soft sheets he showed her just how different from his brother he was and just how much he loved and cherished her.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Missing

Author: Neamh1

Disclaimer: Not mine

AN: Thanks for all the great feedback that everyone has left for this story, you're all great and i hope you enjoy this last chapter and check out my other stories. Thanks again.

The next day Liam phoned Terry at the studio and told him that both he and Buffy would be in work the next day. Terry had told Liam that if they needed more time it would be fine but Buffy had insisted on getting her life back on track.

She spoke with her parents and told them that she was planning on moving in with Liam. They were both concerned that Buffy and Liam had decided to take such a big step so soon but Buffy assured them that she was ready and it was what she wanted. They couldn't argue with her and so that day was spent moving Buffy's thing from her house to Liam's.

That night Buffy's parents headed home but not before making Buffy and Liam promise that they would both come and visit that weekend and stay over for the Saturday night until after Sunday dinner.

They waved off Buffy's parents and then went back inside their house, Liam locked the door behind them and they both went upstairs to bed.

"I really liked your parents Buffy. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about meeting them, especially under the circumstances but they are so approachable and they care for you so much." Liam said whilst they sat cuddled together in bed watching TV. "I'd like to ask you something if you don't mind?" he said and Buffy sat up to look at him properly.

"Would you like to come and visit my family with me for the weekend in September? It will be my dad's birthday and the whole family gathers at my parent's house to celebrate. It would be really great if you would come with me." Liam asked her hoping that she would say yes.

"I'd love to, you've met my parents, and it's only fair that I should meet yours." Buffy said and Liam could see the love and warmth shinning through in her eyes. "Do you think they'll like me?" she asked

"They'll love you Buffy, just as much as I do, though not in the same way." He said smiling.

"Oh? And what way do you love me?" she asked mischievously.

"Let me give you a demonstration." Liam said bringing his lips down to hers as he rolled on top of her in their bed.

Buffy and Liam, as promised, went to Sunnydale to visit her parents that weekend. They finished work on the Saturday and drove straight to Sunnydale. When they arrived at was nearly eight and Joyce took them both straight upstairs to Buffy's room. She wasn't keen on the idea of them both staying in the same room but it seemed pointless to have them separated when they were living together. On Sunday morning Buffy and Liam went around to Willow and Tara's so that Buffy could introduce them. They spent most of the morning there and then Liam took Buffy shopping in the afternoon. Whilst out shopping Buffy saw a beautiful cashmere coat but she refused to buy it because the price was so expensive. She had always believed in looking after one's money and the price of the coat was simply way too much for her conscience. Whilst she had been buying the dessert for the meal Joyce was cooking everyone, Liam went back into the shop and brought the coat for her.

"What's in that bag?" she asked him suspiciously when she came out with the chocolate cake in a box.

"A present for the woman I love." Liam replied and took the cake from Buffy handing her the bag. She opened it and saw the coat inside.

"Oh Liam…" she said shaking her head at him as she pulled the coat out.

"Don't say anything, I saw how you looked at it and I know you want it. Buffy I would give you anything and I want to give you everything. Starting with this." He said smiling to her as she put on the coat feeling the softness of the material against her cheek. It fit her perfectly and she leaned up to Liam and gave him a kiss.

"I love you so much." She said, taking his hand as they walked out of the mall and back to the car.

Joyce had cooked a huge Sunday meal and invited Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya around.

When Buffy and Liam arrived everyone else was already there, whilst Liam went in the kitchen to take the cake to Joyce, the girls fussed over Buffy's new coat.

Everyone sat in the living room whilst Joyce finished preparing the food and the table, the topic of conversation unsurprisingly was Liam and other than Xanders overprotective comments regarding their 'rushed into relationship' the evening was great.

Willow was really pleased that Buffy had met someone who seemed to care so much for her. Before Buffy and Liam left for L.A. Liam had told her fiends that they were welcome to come and visit him and Buffy any time they wanted. This seemed to please both Buffy and her friends as they gave each other hugs and kisses saying their goodbyes.

The next week Liam had told Buffy that he was going to see Angelus in hospital; it was his way of saying goodbye and trying to move on. Buffy had insisted on going with him and after trying to persuade her otherwise Liam gave up and agreed that they would go together after work on the Wednesday. They arrived at the hospital and the nurse directed them to the room he was in. Buffy told Liam to go on in and she would join him when she got up the nerve. Liam had been in there for ten minutes when he heard the door open and Buffy appeared. She smiled slightly to him and joined him, Angelus looked terrible. He was extremely pale and there were wires and tubes everywhere, the faint bleeping of the heart monitor plagued Buffy's mind as she stood and looked at him. After some time she felt Liam squeeze her hand. "You ready to leave?" he asked.

"In a minute." She replied and Liam told her that he would wait outside for her. When he closed the door Buffy took a step closer to Angelus' bed.

She touched his hand gently, she felt really bad for him, in his own way he really did care for her but his reasoning was just too twisted.

"Goodbye Angelus." She said and walked out of the hospital room.

Life for Buffy and Liam went really well from that point onwards, they didn't hear any more from Darla which both were happy about. Buffy had read somewhere that she had gone off and got engaged to someone but the news wasn't important to them.

In September Liam took Buffy to meet with his family for his father's birthday, Buffy had already met his father when he had come to stay with them for a weekend whilst visiting Angelus who had still to awake from his coma.

The whole family had gathered at Liam's parent's home in Louisiana and Buffy met Liam's younger sister Melanie and Liam's two older brothers Pete and Graham and their wives and children. It had been really special and everyone made Buffy feel like part of the family. Buffy and Liam were invited for Christmas and agreed to be there for the whole of the Christmas holidays.

Buffy's parents had made them agree to spend New Years with them in Sunnydale and so the main holidays of the year had been planned out for them.

By late October Buffy had signed a contract with Liam for them both to be playing in the next season of their show. It had taken off and was extremely popular and Buffy had never had so much money in her life. She hadn't much to spend it on and so chose to save most but every month she would buy a gift for Liam, it was her way of showing him how much she loved him. Liam in turn brought Buffy gifts but his came more often and Buffy was always amazed at the thoughtfulness behind them.  
It was late on a Friday afternoon when Buffy was getting ready from her shower after work when the phone rang. Liam was still out buying groceries for their meal that he was going to cook that night. Buffy dashed to the phone trying to keep her towel wrapped securely around her body at the same time.

"Hello?...No I'm sorry he's not here, can I take a message?...this is his girlfriend…o-okay…I er…I'll tell him, t-thank you." Buffy slowly replaced the receiver and sat on the bed.

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there and she hadn't even noticed Liam come into the room until he gentle shook her arms.

"Buffy, sweetheart what's wrong?" he asked, it had worried him to come in and find her like that. After touching her arms and feeling how cold she was he realised that she must have been sitting there for some time. He grabbed the comforter off the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Buffy please tell me what's wrong." He said again and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"He's awake Liam." She said, and a single tear slipped down her cheek.

The End…

AN: but don't worry there will be a sequel to come soon...Thanks for reading


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